Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Arsenal: Martin Keown discusses two positives from North London derby loss
Arsenal’s good form came to an end yesterday as they lost their first game in six matches at the hands of their North London rivals Tottenham.
The defeat could have been avoided as the Gunners took a 1-0 lead early on, but a mistake by Sead Kolasinac gifted Spurs an equaliser and then poor defending led to Jose Mourinho’s side getting the winner from a corner, per BBC Sport.
This now means that the Gunners are ninth in the league so the defeat was a huge blow to their European hopes, and former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has been discussing the game.
Writing for the Daily Mail, he said: “There were positives for Arsenal. Dani Ceballos was promising in midfield, while keeper Emiliano Martinez was probably their best player.
“But Arteta needs to decide which way he wants his team to play — three or four at the back — and buy players who suit his preferred system. ‘Harry Kane and Son posed problems. We saw Shkodran Mustafi diving in — maybe that’s because he doesn’t feel he’s going to get cover from Luiz behind him. Choose your system, Arteta, and buy accordingly.”
It’s hard to disagree here on the form of Ceballos – in the last five games, he has only once picked up a rating of under 7.0 by Sofascore, and he was given a 6.9 rating on that occasions. He appears to be dominating in the midfield and this was highlighted by his stats in the North London derby as he completed both of his dribble attempts, played two key passes and won seven ground duels.
Emiliano Martinez has also been doing a good job whilst Bernd Leno has been injured, as he has kept three clean sheets in six and picked up the highest Sofascore rating (7.7) of any Arsenal player involved in the derby.
These two positives should please Mikel Arteta and hopefully the rest of the squad will perform as consistently as these two have been doing of late to help the club push for Europe and put yesterday’s disappointment behind them.
Gunners fans, what are your thoughts on Keown’s comments? Let us know your views below!
