Jamie Carragher has blasted the ‘absolutely brain dead’ actions of Arsenal duo Gabriel Magalhaes and Granit Xhaka during their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City, as he told Sky Sports PL (02/01/22 at 1:10 pm).
Both players were in the middle of the drama on New Year’s Day, as Arsenal suffered a very late defeat to the Premier League champions.
Arsenal were 1-0 up when it was deemed that Xhaka fouled Bernardo Silva in the penalty area, before Gabriel was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Gabriel Jesus.
All in all, it then resulted in Rodri scoring a stoppage-time winner and then wheeling away in celebration in front of the home supporters.
That didn’t go down well with the Arsenal fans, and understandably so, as Mikel Arteta’s side would have questioned how on earth they didn’t win that game.
Carragher made it clear that Arsenal were ‘outstanding’ during the game, but they ‘shot themselves in the foot’ with some of the decisions that they made.
“Arsenal were outstanding,” said Carragher. “Manchester City certainly weren’t at the races, especially in that first half.
“They have gone away from home to a team in real big form, without playing well, and won. You talk about the signs of champions.
“We talk about Manchester City being lucky. But Arsenal shot themselves in the foot.
“Absoutley brain dead some of the things that they did. One of those being Gabriel. Xhaka on the penalty as well. Absolutely stupid.”
On one hand, Arsenal will be kicking themselves because they should have got at least a point from the game.
But, on the other, they have come a long way since that heavy defeat at the Etihad at the start of the season.
It should provide Arteta’s side with confidence that they can secure Champions League football, which is something they thought was a long, long away when they were bottom of the league after three matches.
There are three cup games for Arsenal next – a two-legged affair against Liverpool in the EFL Cup and an FA Cup tie against Nottingham Forest, before that all-important north London derby.
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