Arsenal suffered a huge setback in their quest to win the Premier League, losing at home 2-0 to Aston Villa.
The games was heading for a goalless draw before two quick-fire goals from Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins in the closing stages secured a deserved victory for the visitors.
Speaking about Arsenal’s performance, BeIN Sports presenter, Richard Keys criticised Oleksandr Zinchenko, labelling the former Man City defender a “busy fool”.
Oleksandr Zinchenko had a bad day at the office as he was caught in possession multiple times and offered little in attack.
Richard Keys was quick to call out the 27-year-old, as well as the team selection of Mikel Arteta.
“I also felt he played the wrong team. I notice Piers Morgan made the point Arsenal still don’t have a centre-forward, but that wasn’t the problem for me,” Keys wrote on his blog.
“They’ve been playing with one. Ok, Havertz isn’t a natural 9, but he’d been in good form operating as a centre-forward with five in eight league games.
“Also in really good form – Declan Rice, who I’ve previously said I wanted to see a lot more from. Arteta made a subtle change recently – playing Jorginho – which allowed Rice to start bossing games in the way he used to at West Ham.
“So why change it Sunday? Rice was back to being ‘Declan Nice’, tippy-tappying about allowing Zinchenko to try and run the midfield.
“What is Arteta’s obsession with crow-barring Zinchenko into his team? Is he really so important?
“If I was Rice I’d be furious. I’d be asking ‘why pay £100m for me – only to ask me to play second fiddle to that busy fool?’ Zinchenko doesn’t affect games in the same way Rice does.
“Zinchenko’s inclusion also means a different role for Havertz of course. The whole balance of the team has to be different.
“I guess the answer is that Arteta wants us to believe he’s as clever as [Pep] Guardiola, whose also made baffling team-selections in the past – proving to be too clever for his own good – just as Arteta was on Sunday.”
