Arsenal boss Unai Emery has revealed why he substituted midfielder Lucas Torreira in the Gunners' 2-1 win away at Bournemouth, while commenting on leaving Mesut Ozil on the bench.
Emery's men took the lead at Dean Court through a Jefferson Lerma own goal on the half hour mark, though Bournemouth pegged the visitors back in first half stoppage time through Josh King.
Arsenal kept plugging away and got their reward in the 67th minute when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck.
Emery brought Torreira off in the 79th minute, raising eyebrows, and the Spaniard was asked after the game why he had replaced the Uruguay international.
And Emery revealed that Torreira was tired, telling his post match press conference: "He said to us, he was a little tired.
"He was giving us good balance, but also we need to be clever with the player because he played two matches with his national team.
"We need to listen to the player when they need sometimes rest."
Ozil was an unused substitute on the south coast and the German did not even warm up in the second half, suggesting he had little chance of being brought on.
Emery insists that he considered the game against Bournemouth and felt the physicality and intensity would work against Ozil.
He said: "We thought about how we can be better in the match today, with a very demanding match physically with their intensity against us and we decided.
"But every player is important."
Emery also insists that he decided not to bring Ozil on due to how the game was progressing.
"It depends on how the match is coming and how the result is coming during the 90 minutes.
"I decided for another option", the Arsenal boss added.
The win means Arsenal have taken full advantage of Chelsea slipping up at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday and are now fifth and just one point behind the fourth placed Blues.
