BBC pundit suggests Arsenal’s players won’t be happy about what Mikel Arteta has said

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Chris Sutton has suggested that Arsenal’s players won’t be happy about what Mikel Arteta said after the draw at West Ham United on Sunday.

Arsenal surrendered a two goal lead for the second consecutive week and missed the opportunity to move six points clear at the top of the table at the London Stadium.

Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard got the Gunners off to a dream start with goals inside the opening 10 minutes.

But West Ham fought back to earn a 2-2 draw thanks to goals from Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen.

Mikel Arteta was left disappointed after his side repeated their collapse at Anfield last week and felt his players were ‘too comfortable’ after taking the lead, which allowed West Ham to get back into the game.

And Chris Sutton has told BBC Radio 5 Live that Arteta shouldn’t be relaying this message about his players publicly.

Sutton on Arteta

Speaking on the Monday Night Club, Sutton suggested that Arteta was questioning the Arsenal players’ ‘commitment’ after Sunday’s result.

“If I was one of the Arsenal players, I would’ve thought that the manager, I thought he was wrong to say what he said, was slightly questioning the commitment and the intensity of the team,” he said. “Found it too easy and let West Ham back into the game.

“I didn’t understand a lot of things he said. I think the message which he sent was fine within the dressing room, but I think outside of the dressing room, I think it’s a bit of a problem.

“That’s not the message he should be relaying back about his players, it’s not a message, in my opinion, that he should be relaying back to the Arsenal support. And when he talked about two very different games, West Ham and Liverpool, I totally disagree with that.

“Both games they let a two goal lead slip, more importantly they lost control. You can say West Ham aren’t at Liverpool’s level, but I thought second-half yesterday [Sunday] they were very similar in terms of the way they played at Liverpool.

“There was a fear factor. What has worked for Arsenal this season is the courage they have shown on the ball and they’ve been really brave in the way that they’ve played. Saka missed the penalty, that happens. But they weren’t creating the chances.”

Sutton went on to add that the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson would have blamed ‘everything else’ other than his players at this stage of the season.

The former Blackburn Rovers striker was reluctant to double down on his criticism of Arteta as he said he’s been a ‘revelation’ this season.

It’s understandable that Arteta was left frustrated as his side dropped two points once again after taking a two goal lead at West Ham.

The Gunners have endured a difficult week and they will feel that they should have picked up six points on their travels, but they have allowed City to close the gap. 

Nevertheless, Arsenal have an opportunity to move seven points clear with a win against Southampton on Friday before they travel to the Etihad Stadium next Wednesday for their biggest game of the season.