Arsenal star Leandro Trossard has been slammed by Gary Neville after he stopped Kai Havertz from scoring a winner against Chelsea.
The Gunners were pushing for a late goal in the dying embers of Sunday’s hard-fought 1-1 draw between the pair of London giants. In the fifth minute of injury time, Arsenal produced a lovely piece of attacking play which released defender William Saliba on the left-hand side of the Chelsea penalty area.
Saliba’s drilled pass across goal looked destined to be put in, only for Trossard to get a touch on it which caused more harm than good. The Belgian’s effort wasn’t enough to take it past Robert Sanchez to make it 2-1, as the ball instead continued to fly across the six-yard box, inches away from Havertz’s outstretched leg.
Had Trossard left it, his team-mate would’ve almost certainly scored against his former club and won the game for Arsenal. On commentary for Sky Sports, ex-Manchester United and captain Neville said: “Trossard takes it away from everyone at the near post, they’re queuing up behind him. Havertz cannot believe it.”
Mikel Arteta was so shocked that the chance went begging, the Arsenal boss ended up laying on the turf in the Stamford Bridge dugout. The final whistle sounded a matter of seconds later, leaving the Gunners to ponder over what might’ve been.
The draw, Arsenal’s fourth successive Premier League game without a win, stung even more for Arteta’s men given they took the lead through Gabriel Martinelli on 62 minutes. As assist from returning star Martin Odegaard helped put Arsenal in the ascendancy until Pedro Neto’s emphatic equaliser.
The result leaves the Gunners nine points off top-of-the-table Liverpool heading into the final international break until March. A disgruntled Arteta told BBC Sport post-match: “I am very disappointed but very proud as well with what I have seen from the team again. We did the most difficult one to score the first goal but very disappointed with the way we conceded.
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