Owen Hargreaves believes only Declan Rice and Gabriel Magalhaes ‘played properly’ in Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.
Mikel Arteta’s side delivered one other unconvincing performance as Viktor Gyokeres’ penalty cancelled out Junior Kroupi’s opener before Alex Scott scored the winner for Bournemouth within the 74th minute on the Emirates Stadium.
The defeat means Arsenal are still nine points clear at the highest of the Premier League but Manchester City now have two games in hand and likewise play the Gunners next Sunday.
Arteta, meanwhile, continues to face criticism over Arsenal’s playing style and their inability to create several clear-cut probabilities during games.
‘They [Arsenal] didn’t play confident,’ Hargreaves told Premier League Productions.
‘I used to be at the sport and the gang were super up for it initially of the sport, by the top of it they weren’t completely satisfied with what they saw.
‘The one ones who played properly were Declan Rice and Gabriel, the remaining of them got thoroughly outplayed.
‘Bournemouth were good by the way in which, they pressed the life out of Arsenal.
‘Arsenal couldn’t keep the ball for the lifetime of them, kept going long, they’d pass the ball back to the goalkeeper, I believe it was 39 times in the sport, David Raya had the second-most passes of an Arsenal player. They only really encouraged Bournemouth into that press and the press might be among the finest within the Premier League but they only surprised Arsenal and so they deserved to win the sport.
‘I believe the largest problem is that they’ve been outplayed in three of the last 4 games – City within the Carabao Cup final, Southampton within the FA Cup, after which today.
‘That they had the win against Sporting but David Raya was one in all their best players in that game and he made quite a couple of saves so there’s a bit of little bit of a trend there where they’re being outplayed.
‘They’ve worked so hard to get thus far but they need to finish the job. Today they lacked a bit of little bit of courage, belief and a bit of little bit of aggression in crucial moments, Bournemouth were more aggressive today.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the newest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
MORE: ‘Not adequate’ – Mikel Arteta urged to drop Arsenal star after Bournemouth loss
MORE: ‘Didn’t help’ – Viktor Gyokeres gives bizarre excuse for Arsenal’s loss to Bournemouth
MORE: Troy Deeney slams Arsenal fans for criticising £60m signing after Bournemouth defeat