Neil Warnock has told Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been told that his decision to loan out players such as Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Calum Chambers has come back to bite the club in their top-four chase.
The Gunners were soundly beaten on Monday night when they travelled across London to face Crystal Palace. Goals from Jean-Phillipe Mateta, Jordan Ayew and Wilfried Zaha gave Patrick Vieira the bragging rights over his former club as Arteta's men fell behind Tottenham in the race for the top-four.
It has left them under pressure and with Thomas Partey, Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu suffering fitness issues, they have been left thin on the ground. As Arsenal thrived in December, Arteta made the decision to shed some of the more unused members of the squad.
Aubameyang, Chambers and Maitland-Niles all departed, as did Folarin Balogun, Sead Kolasinac and Pablo Mari and Arteta defended the decision in midweek. But with Arsenal now facing an uphill battle to make the top-four, Warnock says the decision has come back to haunt them.
"I think at the time Mikel Arteta would thought it was good to get rid of a lot of players due to the size of the squad, when they didn’t have many injuries, but it has come to bite him," Warnock said during Sky Sports Soccer Saturday. "Now he would’ve wished that he kept two or three of them."
"Even if he didn’t like them or he knew he was going to get rid of them, he could’ve done it at the end of the season instead and given the team a better chance, so it is on his own back. But I imagine he is happier with the dressing room, being able to get rid of one or two players because the dressing is key for a manager."
