Jorginho has been a key player for Arsenal this season (Photo: Getty)
Ian Wright says he’s concerned that teams will start to target Jorginho more after the Arsenal star’s ‘ineffective’ performance in the Champions League.
The former Chelsea midfielder has, surprisingly, turned into a key player for Mikel Arteta as Arsenal look to go all the way in the Premier League and UCL.
Many expected he would play back-up to Declan Rice, but instead the Italy international has been deployed as the No.6, allowing his teammate to play in a more advanced role, which has yielded great results thus far.
However, Jorginho wasn’t at his best against Porto on Tuesday night as the Gunners beat Porto on penalties to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
Porto’s gameplan limited the 32-year-old’s impact on the pitch, which lead to him being substituted in the 83rd minute for Gabriel Jesus, despite the fact that he is a penalty specialist and the prospect of a shootout was very real.
Ultimately it mattered not, but Wright, speaking on the Wrighty’s House podcast, is concerned that rival teams may now have identified a big weakness in Arteta’s side:
‘The problem I feel we might have is that if Jorginho is playing in those games – I think the more that’s on the line and the more we need to control games, the more Jorginho has a chance of playing.
Ian Wright has concerns over Jorginho (Photo: Getty)
‘So, I think people will cater for him. And people will watch this game and think “hmm…”. In the end, they took Jorginho off and remember, he’s a penalty taker.
‘He was so ineffective today because he did not get the chance to turn and do his stuff. I think teams will probably target that because that has really curtailed us.
‘They [Porto] had skillful players who could break through our midfield . A couple of times they broke on us really well and I thought “Oh my God…”.’
Arsenal have reached the UCL quarter-finals for the first time since 2010 after beating Porto on penalties (Photo: Getty)
Arsenal will learn their next Champions League opponent on Friday, while their next match will be after the international break at title rivals Manchester City.
With so much at stake, Wright admitted that he wondered if getting knocked out of Europe may be a benefit for the club, but is now hopeful of their chances in the competition.
The legendary Gunners striker added: ‘I was almost convincing myself that if we did have one of those nightmare European nights, I’d be quite pleased because then we could totally focus on the Premier League.
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‘But really I was just saying that because I didn’t really want it to happen.
‘The more I’m seeing us in this Champions League and the teams that are left in it and what we’re capable of doing, I feel like we can go in this.’
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