Ian Wright criticises Arsenal star for poor ‘game management’ after Aston Villa defeat

Ian Wright criticised Arsenal’s players for their lack of game-management after their 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.

Mikel Arteta’s side went behind at Villa Park as Matty Cash opened the scoring for the hosts but Leandro Trossard struck in the second half to pull the Gunners level.

Villa pushed for a winner and it eventually came in the fifth minute of injury time as Emi Buendia pounced on a loose ball in Arsenal’s penalty area to fire past David Raya.

The defeat still leaves Arsenal top of the Premier League but their lead has been cut to just two points following Manchester City’s 3-0 win at home to Sunderland.

Wright believes Arsenal’s players should have been more conservative in the closing stages of the game against Villa in order to secure a point away from home.

‘I think you’ve got to look at the substitutions he [Emery] made, Malen coming on, offensive, Buendia coming on, offensive, I think that should have been the signal to Arsenal to say, ‘right, ‘let’s shut up shop now because they’re going for it’,’ Wright told Premier League Productions.

Asked if that meant Arsenal’s game management was not right, Wright replied: ‘No, it was not.

‘I think once you get past 85 minutes I think Arsenal going there, let’s face it, Villa with the chances they had could have won the game, you then say, ‘let’s take what we’ve got now and get back to London’.’

Former Villa manager, Martin O’Neill, was a pundit alongside Wright and claimed Arteta would have been instructing his Arsenal players to see out the game for a draw and highlighted Noni Madueke’s decision to shoot from a narrow angle instead of taking it to the corner to run down the clock.

‘I think some players have to take responsibility,’ O’Neill said.

‘You [Wright] mentioned Madueke should have run it into the corner, these are the type of things, the manager would have been encouraging him to do exactly that.

‘So you’re talking about the game management, sometimes it’s not down to the manager, he would’ve been shouting, Madueke wouldn’t have been able to have heard him, but he would’ve been shouting take it to the corner.

‘I think you know this, these are not young players any more, you should know this, you know the last five minutes of a match will be very tight, you know what the manager’s thinking, he would’ve taken a draw.

‘It’s great to be offensive, and it’s great to be thinking you can score in the last minute, let’s say Madueke had broken through and suddenly something opened up for him and he scored a goal, there would be nobody in the dressing room saying they were going for that.

‘Again, you’re away from home against a side who are right up alongside you, and this is a very, very important stage of the season, every game is, but coming into Christmas the last thing you want to surrender is that great record you’ve had in the circumstances you’ve had.

‘Had Villa scored 15 minutes earlier and you’re then desperate to get an equaliser yourself, fine, absolutely change it up, but when you’re holding on to something, and you’ve had a bit of luck 10 minutes earlier, take that luck and just run it into the corner.’

Wright added: ‘I have to agree with Martin, naturally, as a forward if we’re getting into that stage of the game where they’re putting pressure on, they’ve put two forwards on, then you naturally know, ‘I’m going to start running it into the corner now.

‘Because a point at Villa at this stage is good. I think a lot more will lose points at Villa Park, but it would’ve been a good one to take.’

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