Ian Wright has criticised Thomas Partey for “jogging back” in the build-up to Brighton’s equaliser against Arsenal on Saturday.
Arsenal dropped points for the first time this season at home to Fabian Hurzeler’s side, who are also unbeaten to start the campaign.
Kai Havertz gave the Gunners the lead to continue his superb form in striker before Joao Pedro’s 58th-minute equaliser.
The game was flipped on its head when Declan Rice was sent off four minutes into the second half.
Arsenal were the better side but everything changed when reduced to 10 men, with Mikel Arteta going defensive to avoid losing, which ultimately worked.
Rice’s red card will dominate the headlines but former Arsenal striker Wright has singled out Partey’s role in the Brighton goal.
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Pedro was able to cruise into the box uncontested to convert Yankuba Minteh’s rebounded shot and Wright has criticised the Ghanian for “jogging back”,
“When you look at the play, you look at Thomas Partey…he’s literally run past him,” the Gunners legend said.
“Thomas Partey has to recognise in that instant he has to go all the way with Pedro and at least make a challenge. Pedro blasts past him and he’s just kind of jogging back.
“Those are the things that when you look back at that you’ll say well that could have been avoided. Maybe more pressure could’ve been put on Lewis Dunk cut that angle off and I think Partey’s got to cover Pedro.”
Arteta said he was “amazed” by the decision to send Rice off, noting that Brighto got away with similar offences after the midfielder received a second yellow card for kicking the ball away to stop Brighton restarting play.
“I was amazed. Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be,” the Spaniard said.
“In the first half, there are two incidents and nothing happens. Then, in a non-critical area, the ball hits Declan, he turns around, he doesn’t see the player coming and he touches the ball.
“By law, he can make that call, but then by law he needs to make the next call, which is red card so we play 10 vs 10. This is what amazed me. At this level it’s amazing.”
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