Ian Wright was disappointed by Arsenal’s performance against Brighton on Sunday, with the Gunners suffering a 3-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium. The result all but ended Arsenal’s title aspirations, with Manchester City needing just three points from their final three games to reclaim the Premier League crown. Wright believes the Brighton match was a ‘a game too far’ for title-chasing Arsenal and says Ben White, the Arsenal defender, got ‘as big a roasting’ as he’s seen ‘for a long time’. ‘Arsenal have known what they needed to do for several weeks now but the Brighton game always looked like a potential banana skin,’ Wright said on Premier League Productions. ‘The way Brighton set up, they wanted Arsenal to press them to go long, and when Arsenal were stretched they passed it through. Kaoru Mitoma gave Ben White as big a roasting as I’ve seen for a long time. And this is a player [White] who’s been playing well this season. Arsenal just couldn’t get it going. Brighton deserve so much credit but maybe it was just a game too far for Arsenal.’
Patrick Vieira, the club legend, conceded the title was heading back to the Etihad after the Brighton defeat. ‘I’m sorry to say it but I think it’s impossible for Man City to let that [lead at the top] go now,’ he said on Sky Sports. Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards added: ‘It’s a good feeling for City. They have applied the pressure today [by beating Everton earlier in the day] and Arsenal didn’t turn up. I was disappointed in Arsenal today because from minute one it was like a pre-season friendly. Credit to Brighton, they stopped Arsenal’s flow. I thought Arsenal could give more today.’