Arsenal’s defeat to Bournemouth sparked some worry in Ian Wright’s mind, as the club icon highlighted a major issue.
Once again, Arsenal dropped points from a winning position, taking the tally to a record-matching 21 points dropped after being ahead.
Mikel Arteta must address the Gunners’ issues promptly, particularly as wins are needed more than ever in both the Premier League and the Champions League.
Arsenal have to overturn a one-goal deficit to beat Paris Saint-Germain to the Champions League final, while in the Premier League, Manchester City have closed the gap on the top two to just three points.
Ian Wright fearful of Arsenal’s defending
PSG will be licking their lips at Arsenal’s poor showing against Bournemouth, who won the game at the Emirates to complete a first league double over the Gunners.
Arteta was furious at PGMOL after the contest; however, the Arsenal manager’s frustrations must stem deeper than the factors out of his squad’s control.
What separated the hosts and Bournemouth was set play, as Arsenal’s defending of set pieces was slammed by pundit Jamie Redknapp.
Redknapp wasn’t the only one to pull apart Arsenal’s lack of desire when protecting David Raya’s goal, as club legend Ian Wright shared his verdict.
“I’d say it’s a concern, the percentage is there for everyone to see. The biggest concern is how static we were in the box,” Wright said, reacting to Arsenal conceding the highest percentage of set-piece goals in the Premier League.
The Arsenal legend then attempted to locate the root of Arteta’s problems when speaking for Premier League Productions, but quickly scrapped his decision to defend his former club, calling for improvement.
“I don’t know if it’s because we’ve not got Gabi Magalhaes in there to organise it and be a bit more aggressive, but in those particular instances, no one seemed to be doing anything and it seemed very easy, no one was off the ground, no one was urgent or trying to stop it.
“That is why the 38% is there, and you can look at it and say, yeah, I can believe that, but at the same time, when you see it with your eyes, that’s poor defending.
“Probably down to tiredness, fatigue, I don’t know, that’s poor defending and it seems to be catching on.”
Arsenal’s Premier League record since Gabriel Magalhaes’ injury
Arsenal’s poor defending against Bournemouth prompted Michael Owen to call out Nicolas Jover, asking the set-piece coach to work harder at the other end of the pitch.
While there’s no excuse for just how poor Arsenal were when defending dead-ball situations against Bournemouth, Wright raised an interesting point about Gabriel Magalhaes.
| Arsenal in the Premier League without Gabriel |
| 5 games |
| 1 win |
| 3 draws |
| 2 losses |
| 1 clean sheet |
| 6 goals conceded |
Gabriel has been out of action for one month, and in that time, Arsenal have won just once in the Premier League.
In the five games without the Brazilian in the back four, the Gunners have won once, drawn three times and lost once, conceding six goals in the process.
Wright pondered whether Arsenal are missing Gabriel’s leadership and organisation qualities in the box, which in itself, should alert Arteta to the lack of depth in his squad.
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