legend Emmanuel Petit has criticised Gabriel, Oleksandr Zinchenko and for their performances during William Saliba’s absence.
The Frenchman has missed the last six weeks with a back injury that he .
The 21-year-old’s form this season has been superb and he had formed a good centre-back partnership with Gabriel.
However, as well as suffering from title jitters, Arsenal’s defence has performed poorly in recent weeks as the Gunners have collected just three points from the last twelve available.
Mikel Arteta’s side have conceded ten times in their last four matches and they now require Manchester City to slip-up in the .
Rob Holding has been heavily criticised given he’s the defender that has directly replaced Saliba during his absence.
But Petit says Gabriel, Zinchenko and White have all been culpable and says the defence have been mentally affected.
‘I can see Gabriel doesn’t have the same confidence when he plays with Holding, he looks like a different defender,’ Petit told
‘Defensively Arsenal are not as strong when Saliba and Gabriel do not play together, it impacts on the rest of the team, they don’t play the same way.
‘White and don’t attack enough when Saliba isn’t there. It affects them mentally and with their confidence, they miss him when he’s not there.’
Holding has taken the brunt of the criticism from supporters, particularly after his performance against Erling Haaland last Wednesday.
Petit has sympathy for Holding but admits the Englishman isn’t good enough for a team with title aspirations.
‘I don’t want to criticise Holding, he puts in a lot of effort and has done his very best, but if you want to win titles I think it’s difficult for Holding to play every game as he’s been required recently,’ continued Petit.
, .
,  and .
