Watford captain Troy Deeney has accused Arsenal of not having the mental toughness to close out victories following the Hornets’ 2-1 success on Saturday.
Arsenal led through Per Mertesacker’s goal and had chances to close the game out, before a Deeney penalty and Tom Cleverley’s late winner turned the match on its head.
Wenger tried to blame the referee for the defeat, but Deeney believes that obfuscates the issue entirely.
The problem, Deeney thinks, is that Arsenal don’t fancy it when the going gets tough.
“I’ve heard Wenger’s already blaming that the penalty as the reason they lost,” Deeney told BT Sport.
“Well, I’m not one to tell Mr. Wenger about himself, but the reason they lost wasn’t due to one penalty.
“Having a bit of cojones, I think the word is.
“Whenever I play against Arsenal – and this is just a personal thing – I go up and think ‘let me whack the first one, then we will see who wants it’.
“I came on today and jumped up with Mertesacker – I didn’t even have to jump up actually – nodded it down and the crowd gets up. They all just backed off.
“For me, as a player, I just think happy days. That’s my strength, so if you’re going to let me do that against you, you’re in for a tough afternoon.”
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