‘Deal with it’ – Ian Wright blasts two Arsenal stars who have cost Arteta the title amid ‘flippant’ attitude
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta
Ian Wright has hit out at two Arsenal players who cost Mikel Arteta’s team goals in the 3-0 defeat to Brighton, a game which ultimately ended any hopes the club had of winning the Premier League title.
Arsenal had to win the clash at the Emirates to stand any chance of overtaking Manchester City and lifting their first English title since 2003-04. But goals from Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav and Pervis Estupinan ensured Brighton pulled off a memorable result in North London.
Trossard hit the crossbar in the 31st minute after cutting inside from the left, while Enciso then missed a glorious opportunity for Brighton after great work by the lively Kaoru Mitoma.
Enciso made up for his earlier miss in the second half, though. He was unmarked in the box and headed home from close range after Estupinan did well to recycle the chance.
Substitute Reiss Nelson almost dragged Arsenal level in the 63rd minute when he sent a low drive just wide. But crucially it was Brighton who got the second goal.
Aaron Ramsdale played the ball into Trossard, but he only flicked into Pascal Gross, which saw the ball loop towards Undav. And the forward delightfully lobbed Ramsdale to double the visitors’ advantage.
And Brighton’s victory was confirmed when Ramsdale palmed an Undav shot into Estupinan’s path, allowing the left-back to score.
Arsenal now have little chance of winning the Prem crown as they sit four points behind City, having played an extra game. If Arsenal fail to beat Nottingham Forest on Saturday, or if City beat Chelsea on Sunday, then Pep Guardiola’s side will be declared champions once again.
Ian Wright picks out Arsenal pair for criticism
When analysing the Arsenal loss, Gunners legend Wright criticised centre-back Jakub Kiwior for going down in the build up to Enciso’s opener.
“I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh there’s something drastically wrong with him because he’s stopped, he’s gone down, so obviously he will not be able to play on’. I’ve never seen this before, with all due respect to him,” Wright said on Premier League Productions (via the Daily Mail).
“Because if you’re bad you go off, but if you know you’re going to be able to play on…Yes he’s stepped on his foot there, his boot’s come off, I get that, but now you go, you mark and deal with it.
“Let’s face it, he’s able to play on, so that foul cannot be bad enough for him to go on his knees and the guy have a free header. That was a goal that should not have happened. To see him go down like that was really, really surprising, I thought he had a really bad injury.”
Wright then blasted Kiwior’s team-mate Trossard for failing to make the right decision, effectively gifting Brighton their second goal. He suggested the Belgian’s attitude to be ‘flippant’.
“That is a difficult thing he’s trying, to play the ball round the corner into his team-mate with the outside of his left foot,” the pundit added. “Trossard has to read the situation, he’s got enough space to turn to his right and play it to Kieran Tierney.
“That was somebody who’s come off the bench and I don’t know if he’s up to speed with the game or whether he cares enough at that particular moment, because the way he flicked his left foot out at that was not right at that stage of the game.
“You can’t give the ball away, you can’t lose the ball. Especially in the manner he did it there, it’s almost flippant. You’re not getting away with that.”
