Arsenal great Martin Keown has questioned the “DNA” of Arsene Wenger’s side after their latest capitulation.
The Gunners blew a hard-fought lead in the final 20 minutes at Vicarage Road as Troy Deeney and Tom Cleverley scored to secure a 2-1 win for Watford, who leapfrogged Arsenal to move into the top four.
It was the third defeat in eight league games so far this season for Wenger’s men, whose only point in four matches on the road has come in a battling 0-0 draw at Chelsea.
That display was the antithesis of the nervy, stilted displays that have led to losses at Stoke, Liverpool and Watford, a performance which inspired Hornets captain Troy Deeney to launch a brutal condemnation of the Gunners.
Deeney questioned whether Arsenal had the cojones to deal with the sort of physical treatment he handed them when he was introduced as a 63rd-minute substitute.
Keown told the BBC of Deeney’s comments: “It would have been the other way round. We would have said ‘let’s let him have it a bit because he’s going to let us have it.’ You have to have that about you.
“It seriously makes me look at the DNA of the Arsenal players and in the recruitment, has that got to change? There needs to be more of a steeliness and a determination.
“We’ve got the saga of the two players [Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil both have contracts that expire at the end of the season]. Are they leaving or are they staying? And it’s just draining on the group. Ozil came off the bench and had a great opportunity to score. Where was the killer instinct?
“Maybe he looks at the Ozils and thinks ‘I can get on here and do something’. If that type of player wasn’t there then he wouldn’t even have that in his head to come on and exploit that weakness.
“The way they capitulated when it went to 1-1 was alarming. When your opponent is telling you your weaknesses it’s damning.”
