Yaya Toure desires to ‘see more’ from title-chasing Arsenal and believes the Premier League leaders are missing ‘sensible’ captain Martin Odegaard.
Arsenal continued their Premier League title charge with a hard-fought 2-1 win over London rivals Chelsea on Sunday.
Jurrien Timber headed home Arsenal’s second-half winner after a Piero Hincapie own goal cancelled out William Saliba’s opener on the Emirates Stadium.
The victory restored Arsenal’s five-point lead within the title race after second-placed Manchester City beat Leeds United 1-0 earlier within the weekend.
Despite beating Club World Cup champions Chelsea, Arsenal’s performance left Man City legend Toure barely underwhelmed.
Toure said he wanted Arsenal’s players to be ‘more open’ and free as they chase a long-awaited title but acknowledged the team were ‘missing’ influential captain Odegaard.
Odegaard missed Arsenal’s win over Chelsea with a niggle and has not began any of the club’s last nine games in all competitions, partly due to injury but in addition partly as a result of an absence of form and the emergence of other players like £67.5m summer signing Eberechi Eze.
Your football fix
Metro‘s Head of Sport James Goldman delivers punchy evaluation, transfer talk and his tackle the week’s biggest stories direct to your inbox every week.
Join here, it’s an open goal.
Still, Toure – who won three Premier League titles at Man City – believes Odegaard is a ‘huge miss’ for an Arsenal side bidding to win their first league title in 22 years.
Discussing Arsenal’s form and the title race after they beat Chelsea, Toure said on Sky Sports: ‘Man City are coming back well. Arsenal were doing well from the beginning of the season but they dropped just a few points.
‘Those results might keep them a little bit of doubt if I’m being honest because I didn’t see the players expressing themselves.
‘You should understand as well that Martin Odegaard, the captain, is an excellent player and for me he’s an enormous miss. He plays between the lines, he moves thoroughly, I like any such player.
‘You possibly can be frightened about making mistakes at this stage of the season because it could cost the team but I need to see the players be more open.’
Toure added: ‘The primary half was okay, it was okay. But I feel a bit upset because we wish to see attacks and possibilities but we only saw three goals from set-pieces.
‘For a derby it’s strange. Winning today was obviously very essential for Arsenal but as a fan I need to see more.’
Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira was also somewhat surprisingly ‘upset’ by his former club’s performance within the win over Chelsea.
‘I feel from the Arsenal viewpoint what really matters is the three points,’ he said. ‘It is absolutely essential for them.
‘Once you take a look at the sport a bit deeper, scoring from set-plays, the sport was more open than we expected. You’ll expect Arsenal to go a bit of more forward.
‘Chelsea were organised well defensively which stopped Arsenal from creating possibilities. When you’re top of the Champions League table, top of the Premier League table, in the ultimate of a cup, the expectation is higher.
‘You expect more from this Arsenal. I’m a bit of bit upset but what matters is to win. It’s not in regards to the style because I feel the style may be all the way down to the very fact they haven’t won the title in so long.
‘There might be a bit of desperation and stress because they need to achieve this well that you simply usually are not taking the risks you might be in the beginning of the season.
‘Taking a look at where they’re, a bit of little bit of nervousness and pressure can have an effect on these games. I consider there’s enough experience, quality, personality, to go on the sector and win the sport.’
Arsenal proceed their Premier League title charge on Wednesday night against Brighton, who’ve won two games in a row following a poor run.
Brighton won at Brentford last weekend before beating Nottingham Forest on Sunday to shut in on the top-half of the Premier League.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the newest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
MORE: Harry Wilson injury update after Fulham win vs Tottenham
MORE: Gary Neville says Ruben Amorim signing may be ‘game-changing’ for Manchester United
MORE: Liam Rosenior fumes at Declan Rice incident after Arsenal beat Chelsea