Ian Wright has singled out Cristian Romero for making it ‘very easy’ for Arsenal to score their winner in the north London derby against Tottenham.
The Gunners inflicted another defeat on their arch-rivals on Sunday afternoon with Gabriel Magalhaes powering home a header in the 64th minute to seal the win.
As was the case in the same fixture last April, Tottenham persistently looked vulnerable from set pieces and were once again exposed when Bukayo Saka whipped his corner kick into the six yard area.
Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was at fault with club legend Glenn Hoddle slamming the Italian’s ‘unconvincing’ display.
But Wright was also critical of Romero after Gabriel was able to shrug the Argentine off the ball all too easily. While the Arsenal legend admitted there could have been a case for a foul being given, he was convinced Romero should have put more pressure on his Arsenal counterpart.
‘I was very surprised with Romero, it feels very easy for a defender of his calibre to be moved out of the way,’ Wright told Premier League Productions.
‘I think it could have been a foul but not enough maybe. That just seems very simple when you look at the proximity from the goal and where he headed it in, It’s a very easy goal for Arsenal to score.’
Alan Shearer meanwhile was even more scathing in his criticism, insisting there was ‘only one player’ winning their duel.
‘There was one player that really wanted that to get onto the end of that and another who was happy to be shoved off it,’ the Newcastle legend said.
Another Arsenal great in Paul Merson also sympathised with Spurs for not being awarded a free kick but also insisted Romero failed to deal with Saka’s cross.
‘I’d be disappointed if I didn’t get a foul. He’s in the wrong position, everything is wrong about his defending,’ Merson told Sky Sports.
He’s a centre half international, even I know and I don’t even play at the back you got to be side on. You got to see the ball and your player.
‘To start off you have to be a hand length away and he’s standing with him. I’d expect a foul’.
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