Chelsea keeper joins Arsenal trio in Premier League weekend’s worst XI…

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1 July 2024, 06:15 yayınlandı

Edouard Mendy and Patrick Bamford both blew big chances this weekend, while Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard did more for his old team than his current one.

Here is the worst XI, according to , from the Premier League weekend…

The Chelsea keeper was given his first start in six months – and his rustiness showed. He chose to come for a cross in the 13th minute but was woefully late to stop Taiwo Awoniyi heading into an empty net. Mendy was nailed to his line when Awoniyi headed in again to level for Forest, but the damage was already done. This was Mendy’s last chance to resurrect his slim hopes of regaining his place and he blew it.

It perhaps should be Ben White (5.94) in the right-back slot after , but we have to shoehorn Junior Firpo into this XI, so Holgate moves across the from the left-back spot he occupied for 56 minutes against Manchester City before Sean Dyche put him out of his misery. Holgate managed only three accurate passes and 10 touches overall, losing possession as often as he retained it. No tackles or interceptions, but he was dribbled past twice while losing all four duels he engaged in. One big chance fell Holgate’s way – obviously he wasted it.

The Leeds left-back’s shocker against Newcastle included a booking; the concession of a penalty for football’s highest-ever handball; and then a second caution in the dying stages having let Anthony Gordon get wrong side to reach a simple diagonal ball. Firpo did win a penalty – not that it did Leeds much good.

Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville weren’t impressed by the Arsenal centre-back, especially while he had lie down in the box when Brighton scored their all-important opener. Carra described his defending as ’embarrassing’ while Neville had a pop for leaving Arsenal short. but he’s kidding no one.

Kiwior Arsenal

Gabriel was rated marginally worse than his Arsenal centre-back partner. The Brazilian generally kept a lid on Evan Ferguson but he struggled in trying to get Arsenal moving from the back. Presumably lost marks for not being William Saliba.

Soucek didn’t even see the hour mark, with David Moyes reaching for his hook on 58 minutes. In that time, the West Ham midfielder lost possession eight times and came out second-best in two-thirds of his six duels. Moyes expected more from Soucek, who was one of only two players kept in the side in between Europa Conference semi-final legs.

Fornals headed for the showers at the same time as Soucek, with the wideman blowing his chance to impress. From the right, he managed not a successful cross or a dribble of any sort. All three duels went the way of a Brentford player while losing possession seven times.

The Southampton string-puller, playing off Paul Onuachu, was pocketed by Fulham for just over an hour before Ruben Selles subbed him yet again after losing seven of his nine duels. Alcaraz had the ball in the net in the second half but from an offside position having failed miserably to hold his run.

We normally spare substitutes but Trossard had at least 70 minutes to impress against his former side. He did not. In fact, he was better for Brighton, gifting them the ball with a weak attempted pass around a corner that had been closed off prior to Denis Undav killing off the Gunners with five minutes remaining. That was one of 13 occasions he gave the ball back to an old team-mate. He found a current one only 12 times.

Poor Pat. When the Leeds striker placed the ball for a penalty that would have put his side 2-0 up, there seemed more doubt than confidence that he would score it. So very few were surprised to see a weak effort placed meekly to the right of Nick Pope. Still, his failure is .