‘Only weakness’…Ian Wright and Owen Hargreaves think teams are now targeting £32m Arsenal player

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Ian Wright has admitted that teams are now targeting Arsenal’s left-hand side due to how Oleksandr Zinchenko is playing, while Owen Hargreaves claimed that that position is the Gunners’ only weakness.

The pair were speaking on The Kelly and Wrighty Show (broadcast on 11/12) after Mikel Arteta’s side were beaten by Aston Villa on Saturday to miss the chance to return to the top of the Premier League table.

Oleksandr Zinchenko has had a mixed time in the left-back spot this season. There is no question that he has helped drive the standards up since his £32 million move to the Emirates. Arteta has described Zinchenko as an exceptional player.

Ian Wright and Owen Hargreaves worried about Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back for Arsenal

However, his limitations as a left-back have been exposed. Zinchenko lost possession cheaply before Wolves scored earlier this month. And Aston Villa’s winner at the weekend came down Arsenal’s left flank.

Zinchenko is not a traditional left-back. And Ian Wright believes that other teams are starting to realise that they can have some joy in that area of the field. Meanwhile, Owen Hargreaves suggested that it may be a situation Arsenal need to look at January.

“If he had a Tomiyasu, if Tomiyasu was fit, he’d probably keep him there. You look at it now and you think, Kieran Tierney, as an out and out left-back staying in that position and not being so vulnerable when you come inside, because you can’t tell me that the teams now are not targeting the fact Zinchenko will come inside, so there’s space on that right-hand side because that’s where the goal came from. And that’s something now, people can see that’s a bit of an Achilles heel for us,” Wright told The Kelly and Wrighty Show.

Hargreaves added: “I’ll be honest, for me, I think it’s your only weakness. I think the rest of the team’s good enough to go and win the league. But I wouldn’t be amazed if Edu and Mikel are thinking, right, do we get another centre-back and play like Pep? Or shall we get a classic left-back?”

Gunners still searching for top gear

Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in just two of their last nine domestic games. That is obviously not all down to Zinchenko. David Raya has had a tough time for Arsenal. And it is surely fair to say that a number of their players have not hit the heights of last season yet.

When that is the case, it is perhaps easier for the Ukrainian’s flaws to come to the fore and be exposed.

It is frightening to think of what Arsenal could be capable of if everything does click given that they are within touching distance of the Premier League summit.

But the worry for Gunners supporters may well be whether it is going to come together in the same way it did for so much of last season.