Charles Watts, the Arsenal correspondent for Goal, has been discussing the club’s latest Premier League defeat at the Emirates Stadium during a recent YouTube video.
Mikel Arteta’s side suffered their fifth league defeat of the season at the hands of Wolves and as a result, they sit in 14th place after ten games.
The match was interrupted early on after a clash of heads between David Luiz and Raul Jimenez led to a lengthy stoppage.
The Arsenal defender continued but unfortunately for the Mexican striker he was taken to hospital and it has since been reported he has had to undergo surgery for a fractured skull (as per BBC Sport).
Despite Gabriel equalising for the Gunners after Pedro Neto opened the scoring, Wolves’ Daniel Podence delivered what proved to be the winner with an excellent bit of skill and a finish just before half-time (via BBC Sport).
Following a below-par performance from the hosts, Watts pointed the finger at the Arsenal midfield, here is what he had to say:
“The two midfielders, [Granit] Xhaka and [Dani] Ceballos, I thought Xhaka was dreadful. It was a really poor performance from Xhaka.
“I’d give Xhaka a four [out of 10], I’d give Ceballos a four [out of 10]. The central midfield just offered nothing defensively or going forward, it was just a bad night all-round.
“Joe Willock as well, he started again in the Premier League but I thought Willock was poor, he didn’t offer anything.”
Was Arsenal's midfield to blame for their latest defeat?
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TIF Thoughts on Charles Watts’ comments regarding the Arsenal midfield…
Judging by what the journalist has had to say, it’s clear that in his view, the Gunners midfield was a real problem area during this latest Premier League defeat.
According to WhoScored, Granit Xhaka’s display earned him a rating of 6.83/10, so, perhaps it could be argued that Watts’ assessment of the Swiss midfielder is somewhat harsh.
However, Dani Ceballos was given an underwhelming performance rating of 6.15/10, therefore, you could say the criticism of the Spaniard is justified.
As for Joe Willock, he was awarded a rating of 6.53/10 and when you compare all three of the midfield performances to those of their Wolves counterparts, you can understand why Arsenal’s midfield has come in for some criticism.