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Arsenal news: Wright reveals one positive from Man City - I’ve not seen it for a long time
ARSENAL legend Ian Wright believes the only positive from Sunday’s defeat to Manchester City was the performance of young French midfielder Matteo Guendouzi.
Guendouzi joined Arsenal from Ligue 2 side Lorient in the summer for a fee of around £8m.
The 19-year-old was not expected to be a regular in the first team but was a surprise starter against reigning champions Manchester City.
Arsenal lost the game 2-0 at the Emirates thanks to goals from Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva.
Wright was not impressed by the majority of Emery’s side.
He showed a spirit and a fight and a drive that I’ve not seen from an Arsenal player for a long time
But he says Guendouzi showed a fight and spirit he has not seen from an Arsenal player in a long time.
Former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton asked Wright on BBC Radio 5 Live: “What was the best thing about Arsenal yesterday?”
Wright replied: “Guendouzi, the youngster.
“Just the fact that he showed a spirit and a fight and a drive that I’ve not seen from an Arsenal player for a long time.”
Emery had clearly instructed his side to play out from the back, with goalkeeper Petr Cech less than convincing from his own goal kicks.
And Wright says the Arsenal midfield were not making the right movement to make the tactic work.
“In respects of playing and creating and causing Manchester City any problems, I didn’t see anything,” he added.
“I didn’t see us getting the closing down right, I didn’t see us trying to play out from the back and the movement in the midfield that was going to be supposedly coming from playing out from the back, that was then going to enable us to get the ball up to (Henrikh) Mkhitaryan, (Mesut) Ozil and (Aaron) Ramsey.
“You didn’t see that.”
Arsenal’s next game in the Premier League is against Chelsea this Saturday at Stamford Bridge.
It will be Maurizio Sarri’s first home game in charge of the Blues.
Chelsea beat Huddersfield 3-0 in their first game of the season at the weekend.