Arsenal called out for ‘bluff’ by Gary Neville after Oleksandr Zinchenko organised ‘extremely strange’ huddle
Gary Neville believes Oleksandr Zinchenko and Arsenal were 'bluffing' when they called an early huddle in the 3-3 draw with Southampton.
Aaron Ramsdale's error allowed Carlos Alcaraz to open the scoring inside a minute, before another defensive mix-up saw Southampton score again inside 14 minutes.
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It was former Arsenal man Theo Walcott who got the goal, getting the wrong side of Gabriel Magalhaes and Zinchenko before slotting home.
While Walcott refused to celebrate in front of the fans of his former club, it was what came next that really turned heads.
As the teams made their way back to their positions to resume the game, Zinchenko called his teammates over into a huddle to deliver a pep-talk after their early collapse.
However, after the talk, club captain Martin Odegaard was seen having a word with Zinchenko, the man who was caught out of possession for Walcott's goal.
Discussing the incident for Sky Sports, Manchester United legend Neville said: "There's shock around this stadium.
"He's calling a huddle, I have to say he'd be better off getting around his centre back than calling a huddle.
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"This is extremely strange. Extremely strange.
"Odegaard is having a word with him, saying 'what is going on', but it's all a little odd."
After the match, Neville expanded on his point. He tweeted: "For Arsenal the more experienced players needed to step up and be composed.
"In the last 3 games the more [experienced] ones haven’t. The younger ones have looked more assured.
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"Zinchenko, Jesus, Partey haven’t been right. They have 5 days to sort themselves out. The huddle last night [was] a bluff!"
Gabriel Martinelli did manage to get a goal back in the immediate aftermath of Walcott's goal, but the recovery was short-lived as Duje Caleta-Car made it 3-1 to the Saints in the second half.
Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka managed to earn a point for the Gunners with two late goals, but there's no doubt that it was two points dropped as Manchester City took control of the title race.
Pep Guardiola's side are now just five points behind Arsenal with two games in hand, not to mention their crunch clash at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night - a fixture that is exclusively live on talkSPORT.
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