The former Arsenal striker did not hold back.
Ian Wright has offered a withering assessment of Arsenal’s miserable 3-0 home defeat by Aston Villa, saying “it’s as bad a performance as I’ve seen” from the Gunners.
Arsenal failed to build on their first win over Manchester United at Old Trafford since 2006 as they succumbed to an impressive Villa at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal went behind to a Bukayo Saka own goal before a late Ollie Watkins double wrapped the three points for Dean Smith’s side, who moved up to sixth in the table – three points off leaders Leicester having played a game less.
Mikel Arteta’s men, meanwhile, are 11th after four wins and four defeats in eight games, inconsistency that has clearly rattled Wright.
“It’s as bad a performance as I’ve seen from an Arsenal side,” Wright said on Match of the Day 2.
Saying it’s as bad an Arsenal performance as he has seen is a bold statement considering that, under Arsene Wenger, they lost 8-2 to Manchester United, 6-0 to Chelsea and 5-1 on three separate occasions to Bayern Munich.
“When you consider only two of them were playing in midweek.
“It was poor in every department. They need to break the lines, they need space to hit the ball into, they were dithering on the ball.
I Iove Kieran Tierney but I am absolutely hooting and hollering ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ pic.twitter.com/22osGRBPFi
— Aaron West (@oeste) November 8, 2020
“It was a million miles away from the performance against Manchester United [where they won 1-0].
“They were streets ahead of us today.”
Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failed to register a single shot on the Villa goal during Sunday evening’s game, the first time that has happened to the Gunners skipper since he joined the club in January 2018.
0 – This was the first time Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has played 90 minutes in a Premier League home game without attempting a shot – indeed, Aubameyang was one of only three outfield players who didn’t record an attempt for Arsenal in this game. Vanished. pic.twitter.com/QxTXTAYdQb
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 8, 2020
But Wright believes Aubameyang isn’t to blame, instead highlighting the lack of creativity in the Arsenal midfield.
“The effort and work-rate from a team that was rested was nowhere near good enough,” added Wright.
“You need to impress your game upon them.
“There’s a lack of a central midfielder that can create what [Arteta] needs, but you can’t go into a game like that.”
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