- Villa had trailed Arsenal by two goals until Youri Tielemans and Watkins struck
- Merson was left baffled by the defensive efforts of one of the Arsenal players
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Are Everton where they deserve to be or are the club’s fans delusional?
Paul Merson singled out an Arsenal player for his poor defending for Aston Villa’s equalising goal against the Gunners on Saturday.
Arsenal looked set to cut Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League table back to four points as they led Villa 2-0 at the Emirates, but Unai Emery’s side stunned their hosts by scoring two goals themselves to earn a point.
The first came through Youri Tielemans, who headed past David Raya to halve the deficit, before Ollie Watkins powered in a volley off the crossbar to send the away end into raptures.
But one man in particular was singled out for criticism in the post-match analysis on Sky Sports, with Paul Merson taking issue at the player’s efforts of trying to stop Watkins.
The goal saw Matty Cash swing a cross in from the right with his left foot, before Watkins raced clear of his marker to volley into the roof of the net.
Merson went on somewhat of a rant when breaking down the goat, having been left in disbelief at how Watkins was afforded the chance to break clear.
Paul Merson singled out one Arsenal star for criticism because of his role in Ollie Watkins’ goal
It was Thomas Partey, who was filling in at right back in the game, who let Watkins run off him
Merson described the Arsenal man’s efforts as ‘the worst defensive goal of the weekend’
‘They shouldn’t have needed a spark, 2-0 up and the defending for goals is just not good enough,’ Merson said. ‘They had to be solid, try everything they can and it’s too easy, too lackadaisical, if you want to win the Premier League you have to be on it every day and turn up every weekend to make it hard.
‘Partey is atrocious on Villa’s second goal. To win any league is hard turning out week in week out, anyone wins cup, the draw wins you the FA Cup and League Cup, but the league is week in week out and have to be prepared to put yourself there and defend.
‘He has played for one of the most disciplined defensive teams in Europe in Atletico Madrid. He’s a defensive midfield player. He should see danger, he has played that.
‘He gets back in, that’s his man. You cannot do that. That can’t win you league titles. It’s phenomenal what he’s done.
‘He’s just got to pick his man up. You’re in a league title race. My man does not score. You take responsibility. He leaves him. You won’t see a worse defensive goal than that all weekend.’
Partey, who was playing at right back to fill in for Jurrien Timber, who was moved to centre back due to William Saliba’s injury, was marking Watkins as Villa tried to carve an opportunity on the right.
But he left Watkins to run at goal, with the England forward volleying home.
‘We got the goal with Youri and we went up the pitch and he nearly scored again,’ Watkins said on Sky after the game. ‘We had faith when we went forward, especially on transition, that they were quite open.
‘We knew they went man for man. There were a few times in the first half I could have done better, but there were chances there to be taken.’
