“He’s the BIGGEST problem in this Arsenal team. He will cause them to lose the PL title to Liverpool or City”- Chelsea Legend John Terry names the Arsenal man who will cost them the Premier League title this season and make them go trophyless again like last season
‘He’s a problem’ – Chelsea Legend picks out Arsenal player who could cost them the Premier League title
Premier League title, but Micky Gray believes ‘problem’ Oleksandr Zinchenko could hinder their chances.
Mikel Arteta’s side currently sit top the table and one point ahead of Liverpool having won 12 of their 18 games so far this season.
The Gunners and Reds entertained in a thrilling 1-1 draw on December 23, with Mohamed Salah equalising after Gabriel’s opener.
Arsenal left-back Zinchenko had a tough time against the forward all game and some poor defending allowed him to score.
And former Defender John Terry has told talkSPORT that he thinks Zinchenko could affect the Gunners’ chances of a first league title in 20 years.
“I’ve got to be honest with you, and I’ve seen him not just this game and it was a huge game, I think he might cost Arsenal the Premier league,” he told The Sunday Session.
“That’s how big of a problem it is. That’s not me criticising him saying he’s a terrible player because he’s not, he’s played for Manchester City, been there done it before.
“He’s certainly done it at Arsenal and it’s quite hard to criticise him at times when you think over the last year-and-a-half what him and I suppose his family and everything have been through. But judging on football and what I’ve seen, I think he’s a problem for Arsenal.”
He added: “If you talk about communication, I think communication between a left-back and a centre-half is absolutely key. I don’t think the communication between Zinchenko and his two centre-halves is there for everybody to see.
“Sometimes that’s difficult for the TV to pick up but when you’re at games you see it, and all it takes is a little look over your right shoulder to have a look at your left-sided centre-half, I don’t think he does that very well.
“I think he struggles in a one v one situation because I think he has a lack of pace. When Salah chopped back onto his left foot, which I think everybody kind of knew he was going to do because that’s his favoured foot, you don’t poke a foot out.
“You do not poke a right foot out to try and get any contact with that ball, you defend first and foremost, and how you do that is open your shoulder up and you follow the man. At times, if he’s a little bit quicker than you he might still get away from you but as a defender you’ve got to shuffle across your body.
“It’s a cop out, if you’re poking a right foot out to try and nick a little ball away from Salah, if you see any defender, not just left-backs, but if you see anybody poking feet out, it’s a cop out that they don’t want to defend.”
Zinchenko first started out as a midfielder before he was converted into a left-back by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, although he plays in the middle of the park for Ukraine.
Despite this, Terry believes he needs to do more as a defender if he wants to keep his spot in the Arsenal starting XI: “For his country he barely plays in that position does he? He always plays in midfield, and I’m sure he probably wants to play there.
“Managers have changed their style of play for him and played this inverted full-back. In certain games, i.e. the game against Liverpool, you can’t do it because you’ve got to have that back four or back five, you’ve got to stay solid and be a defender first and foremost.
“So he’s going to have to come up at certain times in games and he has to be a defender and if he’s not going to be able to do it week in, week out, I think that’s going to be Arsenal’s problem and I think that’s where they’ll fall short of winning the Premier League.”
