Ian Wright believes Jorginho ‘lacks drive and movement’ in Arsenal’s midfield

Arsenal legend Ian Wright believes Jorginho ‘lacks drive and movement’ in the Gunners’ midfield and feels Oleksandr Zinchenko is struggling after Granit Xhaka’s departure.

Mikel Arteta’s side battled back from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Arteta admitted after the match that his Arsenal side looked ‘average’ for large parts of the game, and Wright believes the Gunners boss got his team selection wrong by benching Takehiro Tomiyasu.

Wright also feels the game against Chelsea was better suited to Kai Havertz as both Jorginho and Martin Odegaard, who was replaced with 12 minutes remaining, were unable to make an impact against Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

Jorginho Lacking Drive and Movement

‘Can I be honest? I’m thinking with Mikel in that situation you’ve got to recognise, Tomiyasu starts that game, for me,’ Wright said on his Wrighty’s House podcast.

‘Zinchenko, without Xhaka and what Xhaka did for us, it’s not the same role, he doesn’t seem to be able to do it without the way Xhaka was playing and giving him that license.

‘I was just very surprised that in that game where I believed, with [Raheem] Sterling in his form as well, you have to dampen it down. Tomiyasu starts for me.

‘And I just feel the midfield, Jorginho in there going back to his old place, no disrespect, with his lack of real drive and movement, I thought they had his number. And you know what? They had Martin Odegaard’s number as well. It was one of those where we needed to recognise quicker.’

Havertz Should Have Started

Wright believes that Kai Havertz should have started the game against Chelsea due to his ability to provide the running and attacking threat that Arsenal lacked.

He said: ‘I don’t know why Kai [Havertz] didn’t start, because I’m thinking to myself, we can’t have the running, it’s not working, we can’t get the ball to them to turn them and run. Havertz, for me, should’ve started.’

Conclusion

Arsenal were able to salvage a point against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, but Ian Wright believes Mikel Arteta got his team selection wrong by not starting Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kai Havertz.

Wright believes Jorginho ‘lacks drive and movement’ in Arsenal’s midfield and feels Oleksandr Zinchenko is struggling after Granit Xhaka’s departure.

He also feels that Havertz should have started the game due to his ability to provide the running and attacking threat that Arsenal lacked.

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