Keown claims Arsenal are missing ‘important’ star and must use Wolves draw as ‘oxygen’ | OneFootball

Arsenal legend Martin Keown insists the Gunners are missing an “important” player as he urges them to use the draw to Wolves as “oxygen” for their title push.

The Gunners put themselves in a good position to beat the Championship-bound outfit by going two goals up through Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapie.

But Wolves struck back through a wonderful curled effort from Hugo Bueno for his first Premier League goal before a mix-up between David Raya and Gabriel Magalhaes allowed Tom Edozie to score a deflected strike at goal.

And Keown has told Arsenal to “get back up again” after giving second-placed Man City the chance on Saturday to close the gap at the top of the Premier League to two points.

Keown said on Premier League Productions: “I can’t say I didn’t see it [Wolves’ equaliser] coming because it didn’t look comfortable for Arsenal.

“It just felt like we were hoping we could win it rather than going and grabbing it. This will be a lesson for the group.

“It’s not over for Arsenal but they must ensure this isn’t the beginning of the end of their quest to become champions and use it as oxygen.

“They had a great opportunity to go further clear tonight but they didn’t have the conviction to finish the game off.

“It’s been a bad night but there’s so long left of the season. You get knocked down, you get back up again, that’s the life of a professional footballer.

“Arsenal need to turn it around but even if they had won tonight it wouldn’t have been over and it’s certainly not over now they’ve drawn.

“The key is how they react now because they can’t keep going ahead and getting pegged back.”

Arsenal attacker Kai Havertz recently returned from injury, getting two goals and two assists in his first six matches back, before picking up another injury.

And Keown thinks Arsenal are missing the Germany international, he added: “I would like to see Kai Havertz back, he’s becoming maybe all too important because he’s been injured again.

“That’s not his fault but it’s been painful. You need to get people back because it hurts the group. You need that match-winner, someone who gives everyone belief and puts the game out of sight.”

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta said after the draw at Molineux: “We’re very disappointed with the end result, but I think we have to fault ourselves.

“I think the performance in the second half doesn’t show the level and the standards required in the Premier League to win in the manner that we should have won the game, especially in the way that we played in the first half.

“It’s very tough, we are frustrated because it’s down to us. It’s time to talk on the pitch because anything that we say right now comes from anger, frustration, disappointment, and there’s nothing coming through that is going to benefit and help the team going forward.

“It’s nothing to do with attitude or with desire. There were a lot of things that went wrong in the second half that didn’t allow us to have any dominance, even though we scored the second goal. We never felt that we were in control of the game.”