Ian Wright hits out at Arsenal star; ‘non-existent’ teammate needed hooking ‘after 30 minutes’ vs Aston Villa

Ian Wright has hit out at an Arsenal star after Mikel Arteta’s side suffered a rare 2-1 loss against Premier League rivals Aston Villa on Saturday.

Aston Villa ended Arsenal’s 18-game unbeaten run in all competitions on Saturday, handing Arteta’s team their first loss since the end of August.

Emi Buendia scored deep into stoppage time to clinch all three points for Aston Villa, who have closed in on the Premier League leaders. Manchester City, meanwhile, are only two points adrift of Arsenal.

Therefore, the Gunners will be keen to bounce back when they host bottom-placed Wolves next weekend as they are suddenly under more pressure.

Wright has explained why he thinks Arsenal’s late loss against Aston Villa could have easily been avoided.

“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 said on Premier League Productions.

READ: Arsenal dealt hammer blow by Aston Villa as Timber, Calafiori most feeble in title clash

When asked if he thought 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’.”

Wright then agreed with Martin O’Neil after the Celtic boss criticised Noni Madueke for deciding to shoot late on instead of running down the clock.

He continued: “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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Former Newcastle United star Shaka Hislop has criticised Eberechi Eze, who “oculd have been taken off after 30 minutes” against Aston Villa.

“From an Arsenal perspective, it feels like yesterday we were talking about Eberechi Eze and his performance against Spurs and how good he looked through the middle,” Hislop told ESPN.

“He could have been taken off after 30 minutes, I’ll be honest.

“Now I am as willing as anybody to sing Eze’s praises, but everything from Arsenal came down the right in that first half.

“Everything came through Bukayo Saka, so the change had to be made at half-time because Eze was non-existent.”