£32m Arsenal star now labelled as the ‘whipping boy’ for Arsenal fans after Forest

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Journalist Charles Watts has now come to the defence of Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Oleksandr Zinchenko has found himself somewhat in the spotlight after Arsenal battled to a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest on Tuesday evening. 

After the final whistle, the Ukrainian left-back clashed with teammate Ben White on the pitch. White clearly felt that Zinchenko was at fault for the late goal that the Gunners’ conceded at the City Ground. Mikel Arteta was quickly on hand to separate the pair, and was spotted trying to calm the £32 million former Manchester City man down. 

Speaking to the press after the match, Arteta made it clear that he approved of the altercation, in the sense that it demonstrated that his players demand high standards of one another. 

However, Charles Watts feels that Zinchenko was the victim of unfair criticism in the aftermath of the goal. Speaking on his Inside Arsenal YouTube channel, the reporter said, “I feel like Zinchenko is a little bit of a whipping boy at the moment for a lot of fans…I watched that goal over and over again, and I really don’t see that that goal is his fault. Yes, he got beaten in the air by a forward…I don’t look at that as a massive Zinchenko error for the goal.”

“I look at it far more as a fact that Saliba got totally outmuscled by Awoniyi for the goal…It feels like most goals that are conceded, everyone’s determined to find a way of blaming Zinchenko for it, and Ben White obviously did…I thought he played well yesterday, Zinchenko.”

Does Oleksandr Zinchenko get unfairly criticised by Arsenal fans?

Plenty of Arsenal fans also felt that William Saliba was culpable for the goal. 

Late on at the City Ground, a long ball was played outwards Gonzalo Montiel. Zinchenko got caught under the ball, and was also deeper than the rest of the Arsenal defensive line, which allowed the Nottingham Forest man to stay onside.

Montiel then delivered the ball into the box, where Taiwo Awoniyi was allowed to all-too-easily overpower Saliba, and then spin away from the Frenchman, before slotting the ball past David Raya and into the back of the net.

In this writer’s opinion, Zinchenko did not do an awful lot wrong, and Saliba ought to have dealt with the situation better. However, Awoniyi’s own quality and physicality cannot be ignored.

Overall, Zinchenko played well against Nottingham Forest, and linked the play together well in the final third up against a determined defensive effort from the hosts. 

However, the fact remains that Zinchenko has been labelled a defensive liability in the past, and he certainly has his vulnerabilities in that aspect of the game. It is little wonder that many Arsenal fans have little faith in his defensive abilities, which makes him an easy target to blame when things go wrong at the back for the Gunners.