Henry takes surprising dig at Arsenal star; Gunners legend ‘worried’ about City game after Arteta call
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has criticised France international William Saliba over his involvement in RC Lens’ winning goal on Tuesday night.
The Gunners suffered a rare defeat on Tuesday evening as they were edged out by Ligue Un outfit RC Lens in the Champions League group stages.
Arsenal’s return to the Champions League got off to a dream start as they hammered PSV Eindhoven 4-0 in their opener but they crashed back down to earth earlier this week.
Forward Gabriel Jesus fired them in front but this goal was cancelled out by Lens’ Adrien Thomasson.
Mikel Arteta opted to take a risk and start Bukayo Saka, who has been carrying a knock in recent weeks. Arsenal were dealt a blow before half-time as the Englishman was forced off with a muscle issue.
Premier League-linked Elye Wahi scored RC Lens’ winning goal and Henry criticised Saliba for not “checking his shoulder” when attempting to defend this game-changing attack.
“Elye, he is special when it comes to that [finishing],” Henry told CBS Sports.
“First and foremost let’s talk about how he stayed away from Saliba. You see you don’t need to go and break your neck, Saliba will beat you to the first ball; stay in a good position between the two lines and Wahi does that, he can finish so well.
“Can we talk about Saliba? The space never scores a goal. Can you have a look at where your striker is? He never looked at where his No.9 is.
“Only the No.9 can score there. He never looks to see what Wahi does, he never looks! He never looks! You have to check your shoulder.”
Club legend Freddie Ljungberg meanwhile thinks Saka has “played a bit too much” of late and he is “worried for Arsenal” ahead of this weekend’s game against Man City.
“Looking at this makes all the Arsenal fans a little bit worried. He was touching the back of his hamstring,” Ljungberg said.
“I have been a little bit like rest him a little bit. I felt he’s played a bit too much. He’s still young and you say they can run as much as they can when they’re young. Rest him.
“He’s the most important player give him a break sometimes. I’m a bit worried for Arsenal at the weekend and how they’re going to play without him.”
On players who could step up in Saka’s absence, Henry added: “It’s going to be the job of an Eddie Nketiah, a [Leandro] Trossard or the job of a Kai Havertz who came to show that we’re not going to think about Bukayo if he’s not playing at the weekend.”
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