Arsenal suffered a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The Gunners have had a really frustrating season. They have been involved in games where they are the better side for large parts, but they then fail to take their chances, concede sloppy goals and end up dropping points.
Arsenal have dropped 21 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season. If they had won all of those games, they would be six points clear of Liverpool at the top of the table.
The game against Bournemouth was extremely frustrating as both the goals that the Gunners conceded were avoidable.
Ian Wright has pointed the finger at one Arsenal player for his mistake for Evanilson’s winner.
Ian Wright slams Martin Odegaard after his mistake vs Bournemouth
Martin Odegaard is having a really difficult few months at Arsenal.
The Norwegian, who joined the Gunners for £30 million in 2022 (BBC), was one of the best players in the Premier League in each of the last three seasons, but his form hasn’t been great this time around.
A serious ankle injury he suffered earlier in the season has probably had a big impact, while his confidence looks shot as well.
Odegaard picked up an assist against Bournemouth after a lovely pass to Declan Rice, but he was asked to mark Evanilson in the box during a corner.
The former Real Madrid man was outmuscled, and the Bournemouth striker scored what proved to be the winner at the Emirates.
Wright, who was on punditry duty on Premier League Productions, was not happy with the way Odegaard defended and had a go at him.
He said: “When you look at that second goal, no one challenges. The ball is great, but if you look at Odegaard, he is not looking at the ball. He is reacting off the man.
‘If he is faced around, maybe the same as Lewis-Skelly, he can have a better opportunity to move into a position to stop that. He can’t see anything, even if it has come off his arm.”
Another Arsenal man deserves blame for the defeat to Bournemouth
Many of Arsenal’s players failed to deliver against Bournemouth on Saturday.
Rice was arguably the only one who performed well, but the rest must have a long, hard look at themselves after their displays.
As much as the players and Mikel Arteta are to blame, set-piece coach Nicolas Jover needs to hold his hands up for the defeat at the Emirates as well.
The Frenchman has received a lot of praise over the last two years for making Arsenal the best team in the world in attacking set-pieces.
But, at the other end of the pitch, things have been awful. 48 per cent of the goals Arsenal have conceded this season have come from set-pieces, which is simply not good enough.
Jover needs to fix things ASAP!
