Ian Wright criticises Nuno Tavares after Arsenal beat Manchester United

Add as preferred source on Google

Ian Wright has criticised Nuno Tavares on Match of the Day, insisting that he cannot understand why the Arsenal defender had his arms up so high for the handball that led to a Manchester United penalty.

Arsenal picked up another massive win in their battle to finish fourth in the Premier League. They, of course, beat Chelsea 4-2 in midweek to bring an end to a run of three defeats.

And they followed that with another amazing performance on Saturday. The Gunners beat Ralf Rangnick’s men 3-1 at the Emirates.

Arsenal were excellent, but they did not have everything go their own way. At 2-1, the visitors were awarded a penalty after the ball hit Tavares’ arm. The Portuguese bizarrely had his arm outstretched in the air.

So while he was hit from a short distance, it seemed almost baffling that his arm was there in the first place. And certainly, Wright had absolutely no sympathy for the youngster.

“You can’t be going up with your arm like that, Tavares, there’s no question about that. I can’t understand why his arm’s up there. No doubt,” he told Match of the Day.

Nuno Tavares will concern Mikel Arteta as Arsenal get top-four push back on track

Arteta does not have much of a choice at left-back right now. Kieran Tierney is sidelined for the rest of the season. And deploying Granit Xhaka in that role has hurt Arsenal in recent times.

But the form of Tavares will be a concern. He did score on Saturday. But there were some worrying signs. Wright also suggested that he could have given away a penalty for a first-half clash involving Anthony Elanga.

There is a lot to like about Tavares’ game. And he looks to have the potential to be a very good player. But there looks to be a little while to go before he reaches that sort of level.