Former Arsenal striker Kevin Campbell has been critical of right-back Hector Bellerin following his performance in the Gunners' 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday evening.
After recording three successive wins in all competitions against Dundalk, Manchester United and Molde, the Gunners looked like a good bet to stretch that winning run to four matches against a Villa side who arrived in north London off the back of back-to-back defeats to Leeds United and Southampton.
However, Villa rediscovered their early-season form to cruise their way to a comfortable 3-0 win thanks an own-goal from Gunners ace Bukayo Saka and an Ollie Watkins brace.
Whilst it was Watkins, who joined Villa in the summer from the Championship side Brentford in a big-money deal, who stole the headlines for his two goals, Villa skipper Jack Grealish was the architect-in-chief after delivering an outstanding performance in the capital.
The England international caused problems for the Arsenal defence with his dribbling ability and eye for a pass, with right-back Bellerin struggling to deal with his qualities.
Now, former Gunners striker Campbell, who played for the club between 1985 and 1995 has labelled Bellerin as "not a good defender," as he delivered a critical assessment of his performance against Dean Smith's side.
"[Mikel] Arteta was shocked by the performance and the way the team capitulated," Campbell told Football Insider. "Bellerin is not a good defender and he got exposed against Jack Grealish.
"Grealish had the run of the Emirates down that left-hand side. You have to be able to defend against your winger one-on-one.
“Just getting back into your shape is not enough against ball players like Grealish. Ball players will play it around you and expose you and that is what Grealish and [Ross] Barkley did. You have to affect the ball."
Though Campbell has been critical of Bellerin's showing against Villa, who are now three points above Arsenal in the table, he did concede that he did not receive an awful lot of help from his team-mates.
“Bellerin did not get much help though," added Campbell. "You were hoping Rob Holding could [do that] but he is still coming back from injury.
"Ollie Watkins showed that Holding was still rusty.”
