Ian Wright has slammed the ‘unfair’ treatment of Arsenal back-up centre-back Rob Holding after filling in for the injured William Saliba in recent weeks.
The Arsenal legend added that people are ‘blaming’ Rob Holding for Arsenal’s recent fall-off, which has seen Manchester City return to the top of the Premier League table.
That included Manchester City’s comfortable 4-1 win over Mikel Arteta’s side last week, which included Erling Haaland giving Holding a torrid time.
It was a game to forget for the 27-year-old, who just couldn’t deal with the brute power of the goal-crazy striker, but then again, who has this season?
There have been many factors behind Arsenal’s inability to win their last four matches and Wright isn’t happy that Holding is deemed to be at the heart of it, as he told Premier League Productions (01/05/23 at 2:40 pm).
“Someone like Saliba is a massive miss,” said Wright. “It’s a massive drop-off. I think it’s very unfortunate what’s happening to Rob Holding because a lot of people have been making mistakes at Arsenal in the last few games.
“But, for some reason, simply because Rob Holding has come in to fill the gap of Saliba, which is very tough. He’s getting a lot of stick, which is unfair.
“I think that Arsenal, and certain players, have dropped in their standards and that’s made mistakes. For some reason, they are blaming Rob Holding.”
IF SALIBA WASN’T INJURED…
It would be interesting to know, if Saliba wasn’t injured, if Arsenal’s recent results and performances would have been different.
Perhaps a slight difference, but not to the point where Man City wouldn’t still be in command to win the title.
This is a collective issue and Arsenal as a whole collapsing to the point that Pep Guardiola’s side should now go on to win the title, and perhaps the treble.
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