Arsenal have proven Ian Wright wrong as Mikel Arteta sent worrying assessment

Mikel Arteta reviews Arsenal's defeat at Newcastle

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Arsenal cult hero Perry Groves claims there is a lack of leadership in Mikel Arteta’s squad. Groves’ opinion disputes that of his former Gunners team-mate Ian Wright, who recently said there was now an abundance of leaders at the Emirates.

Arsenal fell to a hugely damaging 2-0 loss at Newcastle on Monday to almost end their hopes of Champions League qualification. Norwich must beat Tottenham on the final day for there to be any chance of them finishing in the top four.

Groves believes Gunners fans would have been delighted to have been in the situation of needing to win the final two games of a season. But he says a true lack of leadership is what has cost them in defeats against Spurs and the Magpies.

Groves said on talkSPORT: “At the beginning of the season, if you were offered two wins to get into top four, every Arsenal fan would’ve snapped your hand off. Then you get there, and with three games to go, you’re four points in front of Spurs and you let it slip.

“That just shows you that there is a lack of leadership in this Arsenal team at the moment. Excellent young players, great talent, they’ve developed from the beginning of the season to where we are now.

“But there’s a big step of one: playing for a club like Arsenal, and two: winning when the pressure is on.” A lack of leaders is a criticism that has been levelled at Arsenal for several years.

But following the 1-0 win at Aston Villa in March, Gunners great Wright claimed that was no longer the case. He said to DAZN: “A lot of pundits have been very joyous in talking about Arsenal and how weak they are, [having] no leaders.

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“Look at them now… this Arsenal team are a young side, we’re starting to see characters grow in the side. We’re starting to see people like Ben White, Gabriel [Magalhaes], Kieran Tierney, Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey.

“We’re talking about five, six, seven, eight players are getting an eight out of 10 every week. That’s what you have to do.

“And then it’s up to the owners and the manager and the recruitment to bolt on the kind of players that are going to fit in the squad and continue to help them improve.”

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