Gary Neville has doubled down on his criticism of Oleksandr Zinchenko's behaviour both on and off the pitch in this Premier League season's title race.
Arsenal's summer signing from Manchester City slotted in perfectly for Mikel Arteta's side, but Neville believes he didn't show signs of leadership at crucial moments of the season.
On this week's episode of Monday Night Football, Neville and Jamie Carragher were discussing the reasons behind Arsenal's poor end to the season.
Neville, who has been predicting that Arsenal would struggle at the end of the season for a few months now, explained that he felt Arteta's side showed signs of immaturity when it mattered most.
Gary Neville on Arsenal and Oleksandr Zinchenko's struggles
He said: "There is no doubt that if we were going back to the Kevin Keegan era, this would be described very harshly. This Arsenal team would be being attacked.
"At elite level, you have to make sure you perform... Whether it's the Augusta, or the World Championships at snooker or the Olympic Games. I always doubted this Arsenal team. I look at little things...
"The over celebrations against Aston Villa. Zinchenko after Bournemouth, celebrating an hour after the game with the fans outside and screaming.
"You want your leaders who have been there before to spread composure, not lift the anxiety and emotion... Mentally, it's caused them an issue in the last few weeks."
🗣️ "The over celebrations against Aston Villa. Zinchenko after Bournemouth, celebrating an hour after the game with the fans." 🤔@GNev2 is critical of the experienced players at Arsenal for not spreading composure in the dressing room pic.twitter.com/Wc46Bi0Ytr
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) May 15, 2023
Journalist Tim Stillman responded to a clip of Neville's comments to say that Zinchenko "tooting his car horn" was not the reason Arsenal didn't win the league.
Neville responded: "If he was tooting his horn 15 games out after beating Bournemouth , calling huddles six games out v the bottom of the league I’m filling in the blanks of what was going on behind the scenes!
"I’ve seen it before from emotional teams! The experience I’m talking from isn’t just from winning titles! I lost 4/5 title races as well. Some emotions aren’t positive ones for a group even if they look it!"
With just two games left in the season, Arsenal are now four points behind City, while Pep Guardiola's side have a game in hand.
