"Has to..." - Charles Watts says one player must start vs Chelsea if Arsenal are to keep title hopes alive

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been urged to make some tough choices in the wake of his side's demoralising defeat to Manchester City.

Arsenal were thrashed 4-1 by City at the Etihad on Wednesday night.

A brace from Kevin De Bruyne plus goals from John Stones and Erling Haaland secured a convincing win for City, who are now strong favourites to win their third consecutive title.

Pep Guardiola's side are now just two points behind Arsenal, having played two games less than the league leaders.

The match was billed ahead of kick-off as title decider between two evenly matched sides.

But it proved to be a non-event in terms of a contest, with City cruising to victory in front of their home support.

Arsenal are now without a win in their last four league matches and Arteta has been urged to make changes to his starting line-up for their next match against London rivals Chelsea on Tuesday.

"[Leandro] Trossard has to start against Chelsea," wrote GOAL journalist Charles Watts.

"For all the talk around the impact of [William] Saliba's injury and [Rob] Holding's inclusion, Arsenal have not won a game since Trossard dropped out of the starting XI.

"They are a better team when he is on the pitch."

Arteta struggled to hide his disappointment after the defeat but insisted he hasn't given up on winning the title this season.

"Today is very difficult after the way we lost, but we have to stand up and look at the bigger picture and the fact that we're competing toe-to-toe with this team – it is incredible," Arteta told BT Sport.

"We want to compete and we're not going to give up.

"There are five games to go and anything can happen. I've seen a lot of things happen in more than 20 years and you have to believe that.

"Tonight it is difficult to do that but we have to look in the mirror and accept that we have lost against an exceptional team, and that is the level."