Omari Hutchinson swapped north London for Chelsea in 2022 (Pictures: Getty)
The brother of former Arsenal academy starlet Omari Hutchinson has criticised Mikel Arteta for not giving any youngsters a run out in the FA Cup, saying it has justified the winger’s decision to leave.
Arsenal named a very strong team for Sunday’s FA Cup third-round tie at home to Liverpool, in which they were beaten 2-0 despite creating a plethora of gilt-edged chances.
The profligate Gunners could have run away with the contest in the first half, but an 80th-minute own goal from Jakub Kiwior broke the deadlock before Luis Diaz wrapped up the win for the visitors in stoppage time.
Arteta named a handful of youngsters on the bench for the game – Ethan Nwaneri, Lino Sousa and Reuell Walters – but did not call on any of them.
By contrast, when the game was still level, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp introduced youth players Bobby Clark and Conor Bradley – both of whom impressed in their brief cameos.
Taking to Instagram afterwards, Hutchinson’s brother, Oshaye, criticised Arteta’s decision not to give any minutes to Arsenal’s youth players and feels it underlines why Omari felt he had to swap the Emirates for Chelsea back in 2022.
‘Some people owe my brother an apology,’ wrote Oshaye on his Instagram stories under the moniker just1shot_training.
‘All the abuse and hate comments he received when he left Arsenal. I hope you guys are all seeing why!
Oshaye Hutchinson took aim at Arteta’s team selection (Picture: Instagram)
‘This weekend: Man City [youth] debut, Chelsea debut, Liverpool, Spurs youth played. Arsenal [did not].
‘I feel sorry for my Arsenal youth man. Free the guys.’
Pep Guardiola played the likes of Oscar Bobb, Jacob Wright and Micah Hamilton in Manchester City’s win over Huddersfield; Mauricio Pochettino played Deivid Washington, Alfie Gilchrist and Michael Golding against Preston; and Ange Postecoglou threw on Dane Scarlett and Jamie Donley against Burnley.
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Despite training regularly with the Arsenal first team under Arteta, Hutchinson never made a senior appearance for the club.
He has one Premier League outing for Chelsea and is currently on loan at high-flying Championship outfit Ipswich Town, where he has made 24 appearances in the league – though just seven of those have been starts.
Reflecting on his side’s performance against Liverpool, Arteta said: ‘We didn’t take the chances, I haven’t seen any other team in the first six months that have generated what we have done against them in the last two games and we’re not capitalising – not today, in the last few games – that’s why we are not winning games.
‘Performance-wise, merit-wise, there is no question, but to win the game actually the results say something very different.’
MORE : Mikel Arteta reveals why Arsenal star Eddie Nketiah was benched for Liverpool defeat
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