Gary Neville criticised two Mikel Arteta signings after Arsenal’s hard-fought Premier League win over Newcastle United.
The Gunners regained their place at the highest of the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Newcastle on the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
Arsenal have endured a difficult run, losing back-to-back league games to present Manchester City major hope within the title race, but clinched a very important three points against Newcastle courtesy of Eberechi Eze’s early goal.
The win sends Arsenal three points clear of Man City, who’ve a game in hand after pausing their Premier League title charge to beat Southampton within the FA Cup semi-finals this weekend.
Neville described Arsenal’s win over Newcastle as ‘exhausting’ and believes they are going to stumble to the Premier League title in the event that they do indeed pip Man City.
The previous Manchester United and England defender said Arsenal’s midfield was ‘outplayed’ by their Newcastle counterparts and highlighted Martin Zubimendi as an underperforming player in Arteta’s squad.
Zubimendi enjoyed a brilliant begin to his Arsenal profession following last summer’s £60m move from Real Sociedad but has ‘struggled’ throughout the run-in, based on Neville.
Neville all the time had high hopes for fellow summer signing Viktor Gyokeres, who was dropped for the Newcastle win following some poor displays.
‘I believed at first of the season that Zubimendi was a fantastic signing,’ Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast.
‘He’s been a very good player for Arsenal but without delay I used to be expecting that this might be where Zubimendi can be the player. Who’s going to be the difference player?
‘I believed [Viktor] Gyokeres would get the goals for them in the large moments and get to 2-0. His lack of quality at the top was poor on that counter-attack. He’s got to do higher than that.
‘But I believed… you think that of what [Andrea] Pirlo is, or [Paul] Scholes or Rodri, Bernardo Silva – the player who can dictate play in a game like this, get Arsenal on the ball, organise and get them with authority and he [Zubimendi] will not be demonstrating that.
‘He’s struggling within the games and he has been for a couple of weeks now. [Martin] Odegaard does it higher.
‘Odegaard went deeper, but the issue is when Odegaard goes deeper, [Declan] Rice then goes deeper and Zubimendi is already deep. Then you definitely’ve got three players, or actually two in deep areas.
‘You’ll be able to’t have that. You would like them to be rotating with one another, and you wish one back there to link play with the defence and the full-backs.
‘It felt to me today that Zubimendi, Rice and Odegaard got outplayed by that Newcastle midfield.’
Arsenal suffered a painful defeat to Premier League title rivals Manchester City last weekend but responded well to beat Newcastle.
Gunners star Declan Rice said: ‘I feel we said after last week that we’ve got to win five games if you need to win the Premier League.
‘That’s one down and now 4 to go. It was about winning irrespective of how we win. It’s exciting times. There’s lots to play for.
‘At all times against Newcastle, it’s going to be a very tough game, they’ve unbelievable players who can hurt you at any time.
‘We could have done higher in front of goal within the second half, it opened up for us and it was just lacking that final pass.
‘But in the long run, three points, a special goal from Ebs [Eberechi Eze] and that makes the weekend higher so it’s all good.’
Arsenal face Atletico Madrid within the semi-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday night before returning to Premier League motion next Saturday against Fulham.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the most recent news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
MORE: Steven Gerrard urges Liverpool to re-sign £65.5m player: ‘I’m missing him’
MORE: Manchester United told to sign £43m Tottenham star to succeed in ‘the following level’
MORE: Paul Merson urges Mikel Arteta to recall Arsenal star for Atletico Madrid clash