Ian Wright told Premier League Productions (21/02/21 at 18:40 pm) that ‘it didn’t work out’ for Nicolas Pepe and Martin Odegaard during Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.
Earlier on in the show, Wright also stated that Emile Smith Rowe, who came on a second-half substitute, was ‘unfortunate’ to be left out of Arsenal’s starting XI.
Whilst the runaway Premier League leaders have won 18 games on the bounce in all competitions, Arsenal still failed to land a glove on Pep Guardiola’s team with only one shot on target.
That’s one annoyance from Wright’s perspective that his former club didn’t get at Man City, as he was critical of two of Arsenal’s starters.
“I think it was a bit of an opportunity missed in respect of Arsenal having a go at them,” said Wright.
“There were certain opportunities when Arsenal did win the ball back, but they didn’t get into them quick enough.
“It wasn’t intense enough. I think that mixing up of the three of Odegaard, Saka and Emile Smith Rowe. They had something going. Brilliant to play them in a game like that to see how they get on.
“In the end, he went for Pepe. It didn’t out for me with Pepe. I think it didn’t work out for Martin Odegaard in there as well, to be honest with you.”
It could be argued that Mikel Arteta has bigger fish to fry and all of their attention should be towards their Europa League showdown with Benfica.
If Arsenal suffer that knockout blow this week then Arteta himself may struggle to get up from the canvas.
That’s the one ray of hope for those in North London, who are six points behind seventh-placed Everton, out of the League Cup and out of the FA Cup.
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