You have to say, Arsenal papered over a few cracks following their quite dramatic 4-3 win over Luton Town on Tuesday night.
But sometimes, when you are pushing for the Premier League title and you want to lift the main crown, then you need to go through those moments.
And Arsenal did just that via the head of Declan Rice in the 97th minute.
Amongst all of that, Ian Wright was critical of Arsenal’s defending against Luton, with Ben White and David Raya in the firing line, as he told Premier League Productions (06/12/23 at 10:35 pm).
Ross Barkley put Luton 3-2 ahead, before the comeback could start for the Gunners, with Ian Wright stating that he ‘didn’t like’ the defending by Ben White for that goal.
He also weighed in on David Raya’s two mistakes and how Mikel Arteta has ‘brought this on the team’ by making the well-talked-about change to his number-one goalkeeper – Jamie O’Hara says they won’t win the Premier League title with the Spanish star.
Many felt that it was a change that didn’t need to happen, and so far, there isn’t really much of a difference between the on-loan Brentford star and Aaron Ramsdale.
Either way, Ian Wright thinks that the Arsenal boss is going to stick by his guns.
David Raya’s mistakes for Arsenal at Luton
“Just from that instance, Arsenal need to learn that Ben White needs to hold him (Barkley) up and he has to keep him up,” said Wright.
“We know Ross Barkley can go left or right, so you want to put him down that side because Saka is coming. Saka should be saying ‘get close to him, so if he does come back, then I will deal with him, but get closer to him’.
“I didn’t like the fact that there was too much space. He shouldn’t have had time to get that shot on. The goalkeeper also has to do better.
On Arteta refusing to answer questions on Raya after his mistake: “It’s a tough question for him to answer,” Wright added. “I totally understand the interviewer has to ask the question.
“But you have to remember, he is the one who brought this on the team and the club by bringing in a goalkeeper, who he has made his number one. If that goalkeeper makes a mistake, and you ask him about it, then he is probably going to swerve the question. It will probably galvanise him to continue playing and have the faith in him.”
Judge Mikel Arteta at the end of the season
The fact of the matter is Arsenal are sitting top of the Premier League table, and regardless of other results, it’s going to remain that way until the weekend.
Whether you think Arteta is right or wrong, at the end of the day, the best way to judge him and these calls is at the end of the season.
If Arsenal are Premier League champions, then he will be judged a genius.
If not, then it wouldn’t be a surprise if Raya has had a few more iffy games and Arteta will then have to take the verbal beatings that come with that.
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