Chris Wilder names the five Arsenal players who really hurt his Sheffield United team last night

Add as preferred source on Google

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has now been discussing the five Arsenal players who blew his side away at Bramall Lane last night.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team were in ruthless mood once again away from home and started the game with real purpose.

Both Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard seemed to inspire their side from the off, driving the game from midfield.

And when you’ve then got a forward line that contains a certain Bukayo Saka, well it’s not too difficult to understand why Arsenal are in the position they are in.

But from a Sheffield United perspective it was another night of woe.

And when speaking after the game in his press conference, Chris Wilder admitted that Arsenal are always going to put teams away if you don’t contain their attack.

Moreover, when mentioning that attack, Wilder then named the five Arsenal players who really ended up hurting his Sheffield United side.

Wilder admitted that you simply can’t make the mistakes they did against The Gunners last night, and said the belief left his team very early on.

Chris Wilder blown away by Arsenal’s five attacking players last night

As well as the midfield duo of Rice and Odegaard, Wilder also thought that Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Saka were responsible for leaving his team so helpless early on.

He explained: “When you make those mistakes and they punish you clinically in the way they do. 

“Our belief dips and their belief, you can just see it, they don’t need a hand out.

“They are an outstanding team with a brilliant manager.

“When you look at them players at the top of the pitch tonight – Martinelli, Declan Rice, Odegaard, Saka and Havertz – it’s a decent forward line.

“So if you don’t deal with them, they are going to put you to bed, and they certainly did that.”

Of course, there must have been a slight temptation to switch things up for Arteta before the match started.

As well as the five players Wilder mentioned, Arsenal also had the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard on the bench.

And it’s clear that when all are fit, Arteta really will enjoy a strength in depth, delineating why the club didn’t need to chase a striker in January.

That being said, last night’s performance perhaps also proved why selling Granit Xhaka wasn’t a mistake last summer.