Former Manchester United defender, Gary Neville has raised questions about Mikel Arteta’s decision to keep Gabriel Martinelli on the sidelines during Arsenal’s 3-2 loss to Manchester United.
Neville feels the decision contributed to the Gunners’ defeat to the Red Devils.
Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table was cut down to just four points after Manchester United won their second consecutive game under temporary manager, Michael Carrick.
Arsenal seemed to have earned a point when Mikel Merino scored from close range in the final six minutes of regular time at the Emirates.
After a strong comeback by United, Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu each scored, one before halftime and one after, following an own goal from Lisandro Martinez earlier in the game.
But the Red Devils kept pushing and were rewarded for their hard work when second-half substitute, Matheus Cunha scored a great goal from 25 yards out in the 87th minute, beating David Raya.
The result — Arsenal’s first home loss of the season — helped United move up to fourth in the league, one point ahead of Chelsea.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team will really want to get their title campaign back on track when they play against Leeds in the Premier League a week from now.
Gary Neville talked about Arsenal on his Sky Sports podcast, saying there was a warning sign against Liverpool, and “Liverpool didn’t have enough strength up front” to finish off Arsenal.
“Liverpool had a lot of players missing in that game and couldn’t really trouble Arsenal.
“Manchester United have Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo, Bruno Fernandes, Mason Mount, Benjamin Sesko, and Patrick Dorgu. They have players who can really hurt your team, and they’ve been hurt tonight, Arsenal.”
Arteta used every one of his substitutes as the home team looked for a winning goal and then an equalizer in the second half, bringing on Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyokeres, Ben White, and Merino all in north London.
Neville thinks Arteta might have helped United’s tired defenders by not starting Martinelli,
“He used everything he had to try and fix it,” Neville added,
“Well, he sort of threw the kitchen sink at it, but not completely. Mikel Merino came on, Ben White came on. Was Martinelli a substitute by the way, or am I missing something?
“He was, wasn’t he? He was! So I was thinking about having Martinelli, Madueke, Eze, and Gyokeres as the four forwards. Probably keep Zubimendi in the team with Rice and just swap out the four players up front. That’s taking Bukayo Saka off.
“Anyway, I just thought he would get those three or four really and show the spontaneity and instinctive play on the pitch. But he still went a little bit sort of… he tried to go for it but he didn’t really commit if you know what I mean.”
On Arteta’s second-half changes, Neville said, “I don’t think the substitutions helped Arsenal that much.
“It didn’t really make the game feel more exciting than I expected.”