“Get him out the club because he’s a liability”: Mikel Arteta told no way Arsenal will win the league this season if keeps playing 27-year-old Arsenal star

Gary Neville called Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko a “liability” after this afternoon’s performance against Liverpool at Anfield.

The Canaries took an early lead when Gabriel fooled Ibrahim Konate and beat a stunned Alisson from Martin Odegaard’s free-kick. After a lengthy VAR review for a near offside, which was eventually allowed, the central defender celebrated his first goal of the campaign with his teammates in convulsions.

However, the hosts were soon back in the game when Zinchenko failed to stop Trent Alexander-Arnold’s long ball towards the waiting Mohamed Salah. The left-back then opened his body and allowed the Egyptian international to exploit the space around him, drifting in with his left foot and shooting past David Ray to equalize at 1-1.

After the break, the game was in the balance, with both teams throwing everything at the wall and hoping it would stick. However, it was clear that Jürgen Klopp’s men had the upper hand as they pressed the Gunners hard and got back into their own territory.

The problem was compounded when the Reds had a fantastic chance to reduce the deficit to 2-1. Salah broke through the midfield, leaving a five-on-one situation for Raya to deal with. However, Alexander-Arnold’s header hit the crossbar, bringing relief to the away team.

Both teams had chances to steal all three points when Kai Havertz went down in the penalty area, but it was nothing. Eventually the referee blew the whistle and the points were shared between the teams, with the Gunners maintaining their position at the top of the table, but only by a one-point margin.

Among all the stars that impressed during the afternoon, there was no Zinchenko, who obviously found the difficult task of marking Mo Salah very tiring. After being sent off again on the edge of his own penalty area in the second half, Neville attacked the full-back, claiming: “Zinchenko just needs to be pushed back, now we need to look at the bench because he is a liability.

“To lose the ball again to a player like Salah, who is world class, what is he doing trying to play in his own half against Liverpool in that kind of atmosphere, in that kind of game?”