Following Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace, Ian Wright took a swipe at Ben White and Nicolas Pepe, saying the visitors were ‘unfortunate’ not to leave the Emirates with a win.
‘I think it’s a little bit of a worry for Arsenal because when you look at both goals, we’re not getting defenders to go and engage,’ ex-Arsenal striker Wright told Premier League Productions shortly after the final whistle.
‘He’s [White] got to get closer to him [Edouard] and he doesn’t do it. They’ve done brilliantly to score the goal.
‘I think he’s got to get close to him… at no stage does Ben White close that gap. People can say what they want, maybe the goalkeeper or whatever… at no stage does that gap get smaller so why wouldn’t you shoot?’
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Wright was unimpressed with Pepe’s poor midfield display and praised Palace’s mental toughness away from home.
‘I think Palace totally capitalised, they did their homework on Arsenal, they closed down the right people and shut down the left side. Kieran Tierney didn’t do anything,’ he added.
‘Pepe was very disappointing again and once they scored, Arsenal did not take it to Palace.
‘We’ve seen Palace come back a couple of times and there’s no way they were going to rest on
their laurels. They were going to go for Arsenal and they did and they were unfortunate not to win today.’
Arsenal’s unbeaten run in all competitions now stands at six games, and Mikel Arteta’s side has climbed to 12th place in the Premier League table.
