Paul Scholes rejects Kepa excuse as Arsenal called out after woeful Man City defeat

• 

• Arsenal
• Arsenal News
• Arsenal

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has criticised Arsenal's approach after the Gunners suffered a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley

Former Manchester United star Paul Scholes has outlined why he thinks the scrutiny aimed at Kepa Arrizabalaga has "deflected" from Arsenal's performance in the Carabao Cup final. The Gunners fell to a 2-0 loss against City at Wembley Stadium on Sunday afternoon courtesy of a second-half double from Nico O'Reilly.

City's opening goal arrived after Kepa dropped the ball from an attempted cross, allowing O'Reilly to head home inside the six-yard box and hand Pep Guardiola's side an early advantage.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta selected Kepa to start in the final at Wembley, with the goalkeeper maintaining his position as the regular number one for the Carabao Cup this campaign.

Scholes, however, has shared his assessment of the criticism levelled at Kepa, referencing City goalkeeper James Trafford - who featured instead of Gianluigi Donnarumma - to illustrate his argument, reports the Mirror.

“I think it’s deflected how bad they [Arsenal] were, because everyone is talking about the goalkeeper,“ Scholes said on The Good, the Bad & the Football podcast.

He added: “Look at the other end where Trafford played instead of Donnarumma, had three brilliant saves. Two completely different ends of the scale.”

Scholes proceeded to share his thoughts on Arsenal's set-piece approach, alongside an assessment of how it may be impacting Bukayo Saka.

“Their better players just weren’t performing,” Scholes said.

FOLLOW OUR ARSENAL FB PAGE! Latest Gunners news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page

“You talk about these forward players not performing but you have to look at your midfield players and your centre-halves, they couldn’t get the ball to them.

“Did you see the bit where Bernardo Silva sprinted out to try to stop it going for a corner? Even when you’re playing against it, you don’t want to give it away.”

He added: “What we’re saying is, I think they’ve become obsessed with it. They’ve forgot about the other way that they can actually score goals.

‘They’ve got good players. You’ve got Saka who looks lost at the minute because they can’t get the ball to him, more than anything, he’s got great ability.”

Arsenal still have three more opportunities to clinch a major trophy this season, with the Gunners currently enjoying a nine-point lead over City at the top of the Premier League table.

Arteta and his team also have two quarter-finals looming after the international break, with Southampton up next in the FA Cup and Sporting Lisbon their forthcoming opponents in the Champions League.