Mikel Arteta told that one Arsenal star looked ‘rusty’ in worrying defeat to Villarreal

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Arsenal’s preparations for the new season suffered a fresh blow as they were defeated 3-2 by Villarreal at the Emirates.

Arsenal fans were impressed with Viktor Gyokeres before kick-off as he thundered home some excellent finishes in the warm up, but was largely ineffective during his 62 minutes on the pitch.

Martin Odegaard showed some encouraging signs of getting back to his best form as he scored a late penalty and tried to ignite his team to find an equaliser.

There is plenty for Mikel Arteta to ponder over before their final friendly clash against Athletic Bilbao and one player in particular has come in for some criticism following his display in the defeat.

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Adrian Clarke believes Gabriel Magalhaes looked ‘rusty’ in Arsenal’s defeat to Villarreal

Former Gunners star Adrian Clarke has been analysing Arsenal’s defeat to Villarreal and has highlighted Brazilian defender Gabriel Magalhaes for his part in Villarreal’s third goal.

Arsenal fell two goals behind in the first half but had got themselves back in the game thanks to Christian Norgaard’s header and were pushing for an equaliser.

That was before former Spurs winger Arnaut Danjuma raced away on the counter-attack to put the game beyond the Gunners and Clarke believes Gabriel showed he was ‘rusty’ with his decision making.

Clarke stated: “Gabriel Magalhaes has been out for a long time, I think he’s a little bit rusty and I think he got slightly flustered in the moment,

“He got caught in two minds and he tries to play offside instead of tracking the run from Danjuma. Gabriel committed himself to playing offside so he’s nowhere.”

Gabriel is still not fully recovered from hamstring surgery and the clash with Villarreal was the 27-year-old’s first minutes of pre-season action.

He will be hoping to feature more against Athletic Bilbao but it is unlikely at this stage that he will be risked from the start in the Premier League opener against Manchester United.

What Mikel Arteta said about Arsenal’s defending

Whilst results are not important during pre-season, Arteta will be worried about his team’s lack of penetration in the final third and the sloppy defending on display.

It is very rare that this Arsenal side concede three goals in any game, let alone in front of their home crowd but speaking at his post-match press conference, Arteta is happy with preparations so far.

Arteta stated: “A lot of things, very happy. Today I think the result is painful. I think they were super efficient but we’ve been naive,

“Especially the way we have defended in open spaces and that’s something that, especially the way we play, we have to absolutely nail. Today we haven’t been good at all in that department and that has cost us the game for sure.”

Arsenal have a tough start to the season and will know that they can ill-afford a bad start if they want to challenge the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City once again for the Premier League title.

Their defence has been the foundation of their success in recent seasons and getting players such as Gabriel back to full fitness and match sharp will be key to having a good start.