Ian Wright blasted Mikel Arteta for trying to ‘justify’ Granit Xhaka’s red card whilst sat on the Arsenal bench at the Etihad on Saturday, as he told Premier League Productions (28/08/21 at 1:30 pm).
When Xhaka was sent off during Arsenal’s 5-0 defeat to Manchester City, the camera panned to a pretty annoyed and frustrated Arteta on the touchline.
The 39-year-old was seemingly watching the challenge back on his monitor, along with his assistants, and he could visibly be seen pointing and questioning the call.
Wright was critical of the experienced Xhaka for making such a ‘terrible challenge’ and he wasn’t happy with Arteta’s reaction from the bench either.
“You don’t need to tackle like that against anybody,” said Wright. “It’s a terrible challenge.
“But when you are 2-0 down against Man City, you need someone like Xhaka, who is an experienced player, to be calm. That challenge is a dangerous challenge. He had to go.
“I don’t know what is he doing there, Mikel? Trying to what? Trying to justify that!”
At the time of Xhaka’s sending-off, Arsenal were 2-0 down, and like many would have expected, things just became worse and worse.
That’s three games for the Gunners. Nine goals conceded. Zero goals scored. Three defeats. And they are sitting bottom of the Premier League table.
Arsenal are in quite a shambolic state, and whilst Arteta will be the main one in the spotlight, there are much bigger problems to this utter mess he finds himself in North London.
This isn’t a case of things going wrong as soon as he walked through the doors, but over a decade of decline.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
