Ian Wright slams ‘soft’ Arsenal stars and makes prediction for PSG clash
Arsenal's poor defending is a huge concern.
Arsenal legend gave a damming assessment of Arsenal’s defending in their Premier League defeat to Bournemouth but is still backing his old side to reach the Champions League final.
The Gunners took the lead through Declan Rice’s goal on Saturday evening but conceded twice from set pieces in the second-half as the Cherries left north London with all three points.
Dean Huijsen jumped to head home Antoine Semenyo’s throw in unchallenged before Evanilson was able to latch onto a corner kick at the far post, shrugging off Martin Odegaard to convert from close range.
Arsenal have now dropped 21 points from winning positions this season, including in their last three home games. In each of those three games, Mikel Arteta’s side have been undone on set pieces.
‘The two goals were soft goals,’ Wright told Premier League Productions. ‘I don’t want to dig the boys out because I know what is coming and I know how much it means to them. But at the same time you do need to out in a better performance than that.’
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Assessing Bournemouth’s goals, Wright accused Arsenal of ‘not looking at the player who was about to score’ with that issue also at play for the second goal.
While there was a suggestion of handball before Evanilson scored, Wright suggested Odegaard, who was marking the Brazilian, was not in the right position.
‘For the first goal, I think it’s a really good goal from where he is but the marking,’ Wright continued.
‘Both defenders are not looking at the player who is about to score. That was really strange to see especially when you know how diligent Arsenal are with their defensive work but not this season they haven’t been as good from set pieces.
‘So to see them concede two goals like that at this stage of the season is disappointing, I know they are knackered, they must be physically and mentally but they have to go for that last push. They have to finish it off.
‘When you look at that second goal, no one challenges. The ball is great but if you look at Odegaard he is not looking at the ball he is reacting off the man.
‘If he is faced around, maybe the same as Lewis-Skelly he can have a better opportunity to move into a position to stop that. He can’t see anything even if it has come off his arm.
‘It is a concern. The biggest concern though is how static we were. We don’t have Gabriel to organise things and be a bit more aggressive. But the way we were in those incidents, no one seemed to be doing anything. it seemed very easy. It is poor defending.’
Arsenal suffered a 1-0 defeat to PSG at the Emirates last Tuesday and head to the French capital for the second leg on Wednesday.
Despite a demoralising result on Saturday, Wright believes there is still enough fight for the Gunners to turn things around and reach the Champions League final.
Asked if Arsenal can still do it, Wright said: ‘Yes they can’.
