Arsenal fans unhappy with "awful" midfielder, Mikel Arteta told he should be concerned

Arsenal fans have been unhappy with the “awful” recent performances of summer signing Fabio Vieira.

The Portugal under-21 international seemed to have easily taken to life at the Emirates upon signing for Arsenal from Porto - the 22-year-old netted two goals in his first three games at the club.

He has since struggled with form, however. Vieira has made one Premier League start all season, having mostly been restricted to cup competitions but has failed to make much of an impression.

Indeed the midfielder was hooked by Mikel Arteta with 72 minutes played after the Gunners found themselves 3-1 down to Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday.

Vieira was “awful”

Arsenal correspondent Charles Watts was scathing of Vieira on his YouTube channel.

He insisted that the Portuguese star has looked “really, really off it” in recent weeks and that his display against Brighton was “awful”.

Watts said: “I think it’s quite an interesting one because he started well, we’ve seen that he’s looked bright, he looked lively in games, scored a couple of goals, always a threat, but just in the last month or so, he’s just looked really, really off it.

“I thought he was awful yesterday, he did not put a foot right, really, in the game.

“And that is going to be a concern to Mikel Arteta because you want Fabio Vieira to be stepping up and really putting pressure on the likes of Martin Odegaard and Granit Xhaka to push him for a Premier League spot.

“You need that competition, and if he’s not providing that, then the other players are just feeling very comfortable in their position.

“And in the long term, that’s not going to be a good thing.”

Arteta hopeful

The Arsenal boss insisted that the £34million signing will become a "very good" player for the Gunners after the Qatar World Cup.

Arteta added that the player has struggled to show his best due to a foot injury, which kept him out until September and denied him a full pre-season.

After Wednesday's game, Arteta said: "I think in front of goal he’s been a little bit unlucky because the last two games he could have scored a few goals.

"Every new player needs time to adapt and to play. Obviously, when he played against Brighton away from home and he was surrounded with players he’s been more familiar with, it’s a little bit easier.

"We have asked him to play in different positions as well because of the needs we have in the squad. I’m not worried at all."

"He's missed a big part because he came and he was injured for two and a half months. So he's missed a whole pre-season, and I think that period now in the World Cup [break] is going to make him very good."

Topics: Football, Mikel Arteta, Fabio Vieira, Arsenal, Premier League, Brighton And Hove Albion

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.