Ian Wright believes Arsenal lacked a cutting edge against Manchester City during Wednesday night's Premier League showdown.
The Gunners were mauled at the Etihad to give Pep Guardiola's champions the initiative in the title race. Kevin De Bruyne scored a brace - with John Stones and Erling Haaland also finding the net - to hand City a 4-1 victory. Rob Holding scored Arsenal's only goal.
The result leaves City two points behind leaders Arsenal, but they still have two games in hand. Wright was frustrated with the Gunners - and Gabriel Jesus in particular - for not taking advantage of an early opportunity to put City under the cosh.
Arsenal legend Wright analysed the game on Wednesday night's Match of the Day. He pinpointed Jesus' lack of desire to break into the box from the left flank when Arsenal were attacking down the right, which would have given them a target in the middle.
"What is was, it was the only way you were going to get something off them [City]," Wright told the BBC's flagship football show. "You look where Jesus is [out on the left] and this is the only way Arsenal are going to get any sort of half chance. They did finally break through at one stage and then you look at that [no Arsenal players in the City box].
"That is where you want your striker because you are not going to get too many opportunities where are you going to be able to break into City and do that. That was five minutes in, you have to take it to put them on the back foot."
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City took the lead in the seventh minute of the game when De Bruyne's ambitious long-range strike found the bottom corner. They doubled their advantage before half-time thanks to a header from Stones, who was judged to be onside after a VAR review.
De Bruyne completed his brace after the break to all but end the contest. A late consolation from Rob Holding gave Arsenal fans something to cheer about, but their misery was compounded when Haaland scored a record-breaking fourth for City.
Haaland now has 33 goals in the Premier League this season, which is the most scored in a 38-game campaign since the division was established in 1992. Yet the prolific Norwegian is nowhere near Dixie Dean's record for the most goals in an English top-flight campaign. The Everton legend hit 60 league goals during the 1927/28 campaign.
Arsenal's display at the Etihad was toothless. They managed just two shots on target compare to City's nine, with manager Mikel Arteta sounding defeated at full-time.
He told reporters: "I don’t know what is going to be required. For sure we have to first lift the players up, because they suffered tonight and it was a difficult one to swallow.
"We’ll lift them up tomorrow and do everything we’ve done so far so well in the next match to earn the right to win [the next game]. That’s where we have to start right now."
