Tony Cascarino believes Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was ‘totally out of order’ for berating Joe Willock during Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat at home to Brighton last week.
Adam Webster and Neal Maupay scored either side of Alexandre Lacazette’s headed equaliser to secure Brighton’s first ever victory at the Emirates.
The result meant Arsenal are now on their worst winless run in the league since 1977 and Freddie Ljungberg will be desperate to break his duck when the Gunners travel to West Ham’s London Stadium on Monday night.
Mesut Ozil and Aubameyang were forced into unorthodox wide positions as Ljungberg experimented with a 4-3-3 formation versus Brighton and neither player looked comfortable.
A frustrated Ozil clashed with Lacazette after the final whistle and Aubameyang also lost his temper with team-mate Willock just before half-time.
The move started promisingly as Willock burst towards Brighton’s box with speed but the youngster’s through ball failed to find Aubameyang who responded by angrily flinging his arms in the air.
On Aubameyang’s furious reaction, ex-Aston Villa and Chelsea forward Cascarino told talkSPORT: ‘There was an incident with Willock on Thursday night where he takes a bit of stick from Aubameyang, which I thought was totally out of order.
‘Willock has looked for a pass, it isn’t on, Aubameyang’s gone to make a run and he’s given the ball away, Willock.
‘Aubameyang’s berated him. A young kid coming into the game. I thought [it was] totally out of order.’
Caretaker manager Ljungberg insists Arsenal are still more than capable of finishing in the Premier League top four despite their miserable run of form.
‘No, I don’t think we should stop talking about the top four,’ the Swede told Sky Sports.
‘But for us it’s about concentrating on what we’re doing here now and not look up, down, sideways.
‘We just need to work on our own game and our own confidence.’
He added: ‘We need to change this downward spiral,
‘It is going to be a great occasion but maybe that is good for our players.
‘They can relax a little bit and concentrate on the game and hopefully do what they did when we came out for the second half [against Brighton].’
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