Patrick Vieira singles out FIVE Arsenal players who underperformed in Manchester United loss | OneFootball

Gunners legend has not held back in his assessment of Mikel Arteta’s side

Patrick Vieira has singled out FIVE Arsenal players who underperformed against Manchester United.

The Gunners had taken the lead shortly before the half hour mark through a Lisandro Martinez own goal but gifted Man Utd their equaliser and then fell behind early in the second half when Patrick Dorgu found the net with a stunning strike.

Mikel Merino did offer Arsenal hope of a point when he scrambled home from a corner, but Cunha’s late goal means Mikel Arteta’s side have now gone three Premier League games without a win.

As a result, Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League table has been cut to four points and Vieira believes his former club needed their best players to perform.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Vieira said: "They still need to go back to the basics, play with freedom and express themselves going forward. I think the strength of this team is to create chances and to score goals.

"When they are at home, they are going to be aggressive with the ball and some of the players need to perform to their best.

"I think there were too many players who did not perform today. It was a must-win game for them because it was important to send a message and say that 'we want to win and our performance show's and send a message to the rest of the teams in the league."

Arsenal slumped to a surprise home defeat by Manchester United

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When pressed to name the Arsenal players who did not perform, Vieira named nearly half the Arsenal team that started at the Emirates Stadium - including Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus - while he wasn’t impressed with Martin Zubimendi or Martin Odegaard either.

“I think Saka was too quiet, he is one of their - if not the - best offensive players and big games like that you would expect him to take the team and perform.

“Trossard is an important player as well but he did not perform.

“Up front I think Jesus ran a lot and spent a lot of energy but you want him to be more focused and more inside the box.

“In the midfield, I think the only one was Declan Rice. You can see that he’s winning balls, winning the 1v1 and he brought a lot of energy.

“But they were too many players who played below their level and when it is a game against United it becomes really difficult to get a result.”