Ian Wright says he did not like the make-up of Arsenal’s midfield against Bournemouth and believes Mikel Arteta missed a trick not starting Ethan Nwaneri on the south coast.
Arsenal travelled to the Vitality Stadium brimming with confidence on the back of four straight wins in all competitions but would go on to suffer an early setback in their push for the Premier League title.
William Saliba was shown a red card for hauling down Evanilson in the 30th minute and a pair of second-half goals from Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert consigned the Gunners to a 2-0 defeat – the club’s first loss of the campaign.
The north London giants will look to return to winning ways against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League this evening before this weekend’s huge test at home to top-of-the-table Liverpool.
‘There was something about it when you saw the teams and how Bournemouth are when they’re down there. It felt like it was going to be a tough game,’ ex-Arsenal and England striker Wright said on the Wrighty’s House podcast.
‘Obviously, the WhatsApp blows up because people are going crazy. I was watching it with my sons and he cannot take it. If Arsenal lose it’s like Thanos has come.
‘But then I’m thinking to myself: for us to lose one game and for everybody to lose their s*** so much about our disciplinary record and the fact we’re missing two players and that’s it… even if you’re missing two players you’ve still got to Bournemouth and win and get something.
‘I get all that but for us to not win one game. We’re going to lose again! The problem is that we know the levels and the standards and how high they are.
‘If you lose a game it can be enough with the way Manchester City are so dominant but we’ve got to continue.
‘We’re going to make mistakes! We made two big mistakes in that game and they scored two goals.’
Kieran Gibbs questioned the midfield three Arteta selected against Bournemouth and Wright agrees that there was ‘something’ missing in Arsenal’s trio of Mikel Merino, Thomas Partey and Declan Rice.
‘Merino, Partey and Rice. I like this porridge, there’s just something… there’s something not quite [right],’ he added.
‘Do you know what I mean? There’s something. So I was thinking to myself when I saw the team again, it doesn’t happen very frequently to me, but when I saw the team I just had that, “I don’t like that porridge”.’
Academy product Ethan Nwaneri has put his hand up for selection with a series of eye-catching displays this season and Wright feels the 17-year-old should have been given the nod against the Cherries.
‘I would have liked to have seen Ethan Nwaneri in that game, maybe even starting,’ he continued.
‘You can start him and then if it’s not going right then you can go into that kind of midfield.
‘But when you’ve got that kind of attacking talent on the bench, who is ready to go, who looks like he’s ready to make things happen and cement a place in this team… especially with [Martin] Odegaard missing, we need that. I would probably like to have seen him start.’
On the prospect of Nwaneri starting against Shakhtar, Wright replied:’It would be interesting.
‘We’ll see how that goes. I wouldn’t be against that.’
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