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Martin Keown suggests £100k-a-week Arsenal man felt ‘uncomfortable’ during game last night

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Arsenal legend Martin Keown has offered a scathing assessment of the Gunners’ defeat last night, in particular Bernd Leno’s handball which led to his sending-off.

The Gunners fell to a 2-1 defeat to Wolves as they finished the game with nine men.

Arsenal took the lead on 32 minutes through Nicolas Pepe but ended the half level and with a man down.

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal - Premier League
(Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

David Luiz was controversially sent off for being adjudged to have brought Willian Jose down in the box, and Ruben Neves netted the resulting penalty to equalise.

Joao Moutinho then put Wolves ahead with a long-range piledriver in the 49th minute.

To add insult to injury, Arsenal went down to nine when the £100,000-a-week stopper inexplicably handled outside his box with Adama Traore bearing down on him.

“You might be able to snatch something with 10 men, but nine crushes your chances and left Mikel Arteta on a hiding to nothing,” Keown told the Daily Mail.

“Leno took a risk by rushing out of his box — the speedy Adama Traore’s presence perhaps made him uncomfortable — and he played volleyball instead of football.

“With nine men from then on, Arsenal’s formation became 4-4-0. The job of the two banks of four was to stop Wolves making matters worse.

“Arsenal wanted to keep it at 2-1 in the hope one chance would fall their way late on. Having said that, they could have done with going for it more in the final few minutes.

“This was a horrible night for Arteta and one of huge frustration after Arsenal’s seven-game unbeaten run in the Premier League.”

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“Capitulation” is the best way to sum up last night’s game, with Arsenal doing well enough in the first half, only to effectively gift Wolves a way back into the game and ultimately all three points.

In addition, Arteta made some poor decisions in terms of his substitutions, and of course, controversial refereeing decisions, all coming together for a perfect storm.

An all-round terrible day at the office, which shows the Gunners are far from the finished product.