Ian Wright claimed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was struggling with ‘a little bit of rustiness’ after the striker’s ‘very poor’ finishing cost Arsenal in their goalless draw away to Burnley.
Aubameyang failed to add to his tally of 14 goals in the Premier League this season as he spurned three big chances for the Gunners on Sunday afternoon.
Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope didn’t even have to make a save as Aubameyang dragged the first of his opportunities wide of the post from close range.
Pope then denied an attempted lob from Aubameyang just before half-time and the latter’s frustrations continued in the second half as he missed the target with a header ten yards out from goal.
On Aubameyang’s wayward finishing, ex-Arsenal striker Wright told Premier League Productions: ‘You can only put it down to a little bit of rustiness.
‘It seems like a very poor finish, a rushed finish. You would have thought a side-foot from where he was would have sufficed.
‘This one [second big chance], could he have done it first time? It’s very hard to get that touch and then get it over a ‘keeper of that size as well so that was a difficult chance.
‘When you look at this chance [header in the second half]… it’s unfortunate. It’s unlucky. You want to hit the target. That’s the main thing you do there. You don’t try and be too precise with that header because it’s such a good ball, he’s made a good move off the defender and you just want to make the goalkeeper make save. But hit the target.’
Wright added: ‘Mikel Arteta now realises the enormous task he has.
‘The way they started, it looked like something was going to happen but then after that they slowly went further and further into their shell.
‘It’s something he has to address because in terms of the calibre of player we’ve got – and you have to give Burnley credit for where they are – but we should be performing a lot better.
‘We’ve got a lot of young players coming through that you hope can step up to the mark but we’ve got a lot of players there that aren’t playing to a level where Arsenal should be.
‘That’s the job that Arteta has got, to get them back to that level. Whether or not he can do that with the funds that he’s got, which isn’t much, is going to be a massive, massive ask.’
Mikel Arteta bizarrely blamed the length of the grass following Arsenal’s stalemate at Turf Moor.
The Spaniard said: ‘The conditions were difficult
‘The grass was long, they didn’t put any water on it.
‘Obviously, that’s not a very helpful thing to play football.’
Asked whether he expected Burnley not to water the pitch, Arteta replied: ‘Absolutely. I didn’t water the pitch yesterday in the training ground.
‘I was expecting it but that doesn’t make it easier to play. ‘But it’s their game, they do really well what they do. It’s their strength, you are allowed to do it, you have to adapt.
‘We adapted well in some moments and in some others it wasn’t the grass it was the quality.
‘What they do they do really well and we could not cope with that in the right way.’
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