'Saka Marking Abraham Is A Mismatch' - Former Chelsea Star On Arsenal Defensive Frailties

Published: December 29, 2019

Arsenal have their worst points tally at this stage of the season since the mid-1960s after surrendering a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 to London neighbors Chelsea in a Premier League clash at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

In the matchday 20 fixture full of intrigue, The Gunners headed into the break a goal up thanks to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's 13th minute strike, but two goals from Jorginho and Tammy Abraham in the last seven minutes secured a win for Frank Lampard's side.

On 83 minutes, Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno completely misjudged a free-kick taken by Mason Mount, allowing Jorginho to tap the ball into an empty net.

Speaking in his post-match analysis, BT Sport pundit and former Chelsea star Glenn Hoddle questioned the decision of the Arsenal players to allow Bukayo Saka, who was playing as a makeshift left-back, to mark one of the tallest and physical players on the pitch, Abraham in the build-up to The Blues equaliser.

Reacting to Chelsea's equaliser, Hoddle said : ''Bringing him (Jorginho) on made it a back four but also more importantly allowed Kante and Kovacic to go in front of Jorginho. Here we see, this is dreadful defending, goalkeeping.

"Here is the back post, Saka and Abraham - that is a mismatch anyway. What if there is a foul there, I don't think VAR has been brought in to make those type of decisions".

It was noticed during the game that Saka was forced to play through the pain barrier and was more or less a spectator when Abraham scored the game-winning goal three minutes from time.

Predominantly a left winger, the England U19 international has been deployed in the left-back role in the last three Premier League matches following the injuries suffered by Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolašinac.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : chelseafc.com