Gary Neville sent a warning to Arsenal after their 2-1 victory over Wolves, with Mikel Arteta admitting the performance was ‘not acceptable’ for the Premier League leaders
Gary Neville has issued a stern warning to Arsenal, saying that they risk losing their edge in the Premier League title race if they continue to deliver performances like their recent match against Wolves. The Gunners managed to hold onto their two-point lead over Manchester City in second place, but only thanks to a last-gasp own goal in the 94th minute.
The late twist saw them scrape a 2-1 victory over Wolves, who are currently languishing at the bottom of the table. Despite the win, there’s been considerable talk about Arsenal’s less-than-stellar performance in a match where they were widely expected to dominate.
Wolves have managed to secure just two points from their 16 games this season. Rob Edwards’ side are still searching for their first Premier League win of the campaign.
An own goal by Sam Johnstone put Arsenal ahead in the 70th minute, but a Tolu Arokodare thought that he had earned a point for Wolves with a 90th minute equaliser. However, Mikel Arteta’s team managed to snatch all three points when Gabriel Jesus pressured Yerson Mosquera enough for the defender to head the ball into his own net.
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While the result sparked jubilant celebrations, Neville has sounded a note of caution about the team’s performance. Speaking to NBC Sports, the pundit warned: “If you’re getting into the changing room after the game, I think you’re probably getting a little bit of a telling off from your coach.
“Saying basically, ‘That’s not good enough and you need to step your level of performance up because if you play like that too many times then you won’t win this league’. On the other hand, part of you is saying that you’re going to have performances and moments like this during the season and it’s not all going to be plain sailing.”
He continued: “If I was in the dressing room I’d be giving myself a little bit of a slap around the face and saying, ‘Wake up, come on! We’re going to be in danger if we carry on playing at this level’. There has been a little bit of a dip for Arsenal in terms of performance. But it was important that they did get those three points, that is vital.”
Following the match, Arteta confessed to TNT Sports that the team’s performance fell short of his expectations. “In the second half we did that a bit better and scored the goal,” he said.
“And then we had a period of three minutes deep, so passive, really poor defensive habits. Not acceptable for our level, because we hadn’t conceded a single shot until that point. The first time they did it, they scored a goal, and that’s the Premier League.
“In the end, you rely on one individual action, one chaotic action, to win the game, and the margins should have been better. We created a lot of situations without picking the right player in the final pass.
“We had overloads in the box and we hit the first man. It’s not the standards that we need.”
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