Arsenal legend Ian Wright said that the club’s performance against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge yesterday encouraged him. The Gunners slumped to their second consecutive defeat in the Premier League, thus making this the first time the club has lost their first two Premier League matches since the 1992-93 season.
Arsenal were 2-0 down but goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi brought them back into the match. However, a late winner from Marcos Alonso won the match for the Blues.
Wright said, “They didn’t help themselves [for the third goal], it was a poor sloppy bit of play from Lacazette. Where was he passing it to? Back into the danger area and from there they were in trouble. When you consider how Arsenal got back into this game [given] how it started for them and how they got back into it, it really was quite a sloppy goal to give away in respect of Lacazette’s poor play. But I’m quite enthused by what I’ve seen from Arsenal, especially offensively.”
Wright expressed his pleasure on the way the Gunners fought back after being 2-0 down. The Arsenal legend said, “I was encouraged by it. I think it’s always been a problem, the defensive side of it. When you look at the amount of space that Chelsea gave Arsenal, I was very surprised. I thought they would have put their foot to the gas and put Arsenal to the sword. They didn’t. They gave them time and space and [Matteo] Guendouzi was again the top man for Arsenal. It was good to see him disappointed [by showing his frustrations after Aubameyang’s miss].
It’s a great strike for the first goal but when you look at the amount of hand that the goalkeeper [Arrizabalaga] could get on it, he’ll probably be disappointed he didn’t save it. For the second goal, again loads of space, oceans of space and a great goal from Iwobi. I couldn’t understand why Chelsea gave so much space to Arsenal who are a quality side with time and space. Arsenal could have won this game.”
The Gunners will be looking to bag their first Premier League win when they take on West Ham on Saturday.
