'Being made a scapegoat' - Ian Wright not happy with the backlash to Arsenal's 2-2 draw at Anfield

Ian Wright wasn't happy with the reaction to Arsenal's draw against Liverpool, and specifically the scapegoating of one of the players.

Rarely has a performance by an away team at Anfield looked so easy, but that was the case for the first 40 minutes on Sunday afternoon.

Arsenal were looking to end 11 years of being unable to win at Liverpool's famous home ground, and were making it look like they'd never lost there.

Helped by a 'pub team' performance from the hosts, Mikel Arteta's team were 2-0 up before the half hour mark and looked set to take their lead over Manchester City back to eight points.

However, the game turned around just before halftime, with Mohamed Salah pulling a goal back from the hosts' first shot on target, having given Aaron Ramsdale nothing to do.

That goal, and Ibrahima Konate's tackle at the start of the second half, were real momentum shifters for Jurgen Klopp's team, as they began to get on top.

However, in commentary, Granit Xhaka was being blamed, after the midfielder got booked for an altercation with Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The incident took place mere minutes before Salah's goal and both Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville felt the crowd reacted to the moment by becoming more visceral and thus lifting the home side.

But Wright was unhappy with the Switzerland star being blamed. "It doesn't take too much to get that crowd going," the former Gunners' striker said on Match of the Day 2.

"Even if Granit Xhaka went in there and slapped someone it's not going to get that crowd any more going than they were gonna get going.

Xhaka was booked for the clash with Alexander-Arnold, Image: Alamy

"The fact is he's been brilliant for us this season. I think the narrative is people are trying to point at someone. That's how he plays, that's probably how he plays in his back garden.

"I wouldn't put that on him. What I would put on us is how we weren't able to see out and continue to play like we did in the first-half but I think we will have learnt a lot from that game.

"A lot of people have gone to Liverpool and not got that. We should be delighted with that point. We haven't won there since 2012 so we've got to take that point and be very happy."

Micah Richards also joined Neville and Carragher in blaming the midfielder for the first goal, which kick started the comeback for Klopp's team.

Topics: Ian Wright, Arsenal, Liverpool, Premier League, Football, Granit Xhaka

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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