Ledley King has been critical of Nuno Tavares for giving away a ‘clear penalty’ during Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Manchester United on Saturday.
The former centre-back added that Tavares’ handball that led to the penalty are things that ‘drive managers absolutely crazy’, as he told MatchDay Extra on PL Productions (23/04/22 at 8:20 pm).
There’s a reason why Mikel Arteta, after Kieran Tierney’s season-ending injury, opted to play Granit Xhaka at left-back.
The simple reason behind it is he can’t trust what Tavares is producing when defending his own final third, as he proved yesterday.
Whilst the 22-year-old’s handball didn’t prove to be costly because Bruno Fernandes missed his spot-kick, it was awarded when Man United had the guilt-edge chance to make it 2-2.
Either way, King was critical of Tavares’ actions, as there are still question marks on what he is producing from a defensive aspect.
“It’s a clear penalty,” said King. “I really have no idea what he’s doing. Things like that drive managers absolutely crazy.
“He’s a young lad. We know that. I suppose it’s a young lad’s kind of mistake. It could have been costly.”
It was a game full of drama and errors, as Arsenal and Manchester United, two previous titans in the English game, battled it out for fourth spot.
Previously, fans of these clubs are used to Premier League title battles, but those days are now long gone.
But there is no doubt that, at this moment in time, Arsenal will be the happier of the two sets of supporters, because it’s in Mikel Arteta’s hand to guide the club back to the Champions League.
It was only a number of weeks ago, they were well and truly on top, before slipping up and handing over the lead to Spurs.
Tottenham have since slipped up themselves so, all in all, this forthcoming north London derby is going to be one for the ages.
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