Michael Owen believes William Saliba will be furious with David Raya over Jean-Philippe Mateta’s equaliser in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace on Tuesday night.
Mikel Arteta’s side are now on the brink of conceding the Premier League title to Liverpool, who now need just a point against Tottenham at Anfield on Sunday to be crowned champions.
Arsenal took the lead twice against Palace through Jakub Kiwior and Leandro Trossard but goals from Eberechi Eze and Mateta secured a point for Palace, who remain 12th in the table.
Mateta’s equaliser came after Saliba gifted possession to the Palace striker, who produced a brilliant chipped effort to beat Raya, who was caught out of position.
But Owen says he ‘feels sorry’ for Saliba after Raya failed to make an angle for a pass back to goal in order to ease the pressure from Palace’s attackers.
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‘Everybody knows Raya takes big angles,’ Owen told Premier League Productions.
‘But once the angle is a closed one, once Saliba is about to go wide to Timber, or potentially, Raya should be sprinting back to make his new angle just in case he comes back.
‘He [Raya] was never, ever going to be in the game and I feel sorry for Saliba because all he does is make one mistake in many ways.
‘If I was Saliba there I would be going into the dressing room screaming at Raya, screaming at him.
‘Okay, make an angle, that’s fine, help me out sometimes, but if you’re in doubt just get in a position where I can always pass to you. When I’m in trouble, at least I can go safe.’
Meanwhile, former Arsenal centre-back Martin Keown believes Saliba’s mistakes highlight the ‘sloppiness’ which has crept into Arteta’s side in recent weeks.
‘I think Saliba, if I’m working with him [I am saying], ‘don’t switch off’,’ Keown said.
‘The game they played against Real Madrid, the goalkeeper rolled it out to him just after they scored and it’s as if he hasn’t got a picture, he wasn’t alert.
‘It’s twice now that’s happened in successive games – he just needs to sharpen up.
‘I think it’s crept in because of the sloppiness with Arsenal just trying to see out games, tonight was a victory in not getting injuries, because there’s a huge game coming up and I think when you’re just down from 100 per cent, you make mistakes.’
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