Andy Townsend has told the Premier League Analysis Show that Arsenal defensive midfielder Mohamed Elneny’s lack of defensive awareness worried him against Leicester City.
Arsenal may have picked up an impressive 3-1 win at the King Power Stadium on Sunday.
However, Townsend was not happy with the way that Elneny failed to defend the first goal.
With Granit Xhaka out of position, Youri Tielemans was allowed to saunter into Arsenal’s box before taking a shot, which eventually beat Bernd Leno.
Elneny was the closest Arsenal player to the ball, but he seemed more keen on holding his position, rather than putting pressure on the shot.
And Townsend was concerned about the error from Elneny, when speaking yesterday.
“I think for Granit Xhaka here because he doesn’t have the legs, sometimes you take the foul there,” he said.
“I just don’t understand Elneny’s thought process there and it’s slightly worrying for someone who sits in the middle of the park, when you sense danger and you have to opportunity to do something about it you have got to try and affect it. But he didn’t.”
The failure to defend the situation, perhaps, highlights why Elneny seemingly can’t break into Arsenal’s team on a consistent basis.
The £7 million Egyptian (Independent) does provide fairly solid cover, but he has never quite proven he has the quality to start for Mikel Arteta’s side regularly and looks likely to drop back on to Arsenal’s bench when they take on Burnley at the weekend.
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