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Football London
Football London
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Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Ian Wright reacts to Arsenal's first-half vs West Ham and launches Freddie Ljungberg defence

Ian Wright has urged Arsenal's experienced players to step up to the plate against West Ham United.

The Gunners went into the game at the London Stadium searching for a first win across any competition since late-October, but fell behind shortly before half-time when Angelo Ogbonna turned home from a corner.

In fact, the north Londoners failed to carry out interim head coach Freddie Ljungberg's pre-match advice.

Arsenal 1-2 Brighton: Freddie Ljungberg full post-match press conference

"If you score the first goal you don't have to chase the game," he said.

"You don't have to open up as much because you can control the game so that's something that, in my opinion, we need to change a little bit."

It's still just the one clean sheet away from home in the Premier League for Arsenal this season and they face the prospect of finishing the night just four points clear of the relegation zone.

And Wright - watching his first live Arsenal game in over a month - has issued a rallying call to the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil and Sokratis.

The Gunners legend also jumped to the defence of Ljungberg.

"All you can hope is that we come out and show some fight," he tweeted. "This isn't just on Freddie! Experienced players stand up! Up the tempo!"

Not only did the Gunners fall behind in the first-half but they also lost two players through injury.

Hector Bellerin suffered a suspected hamstring strain in the warm-up and his place in the starting line-up was taken by Ainsley Maitland-Niles, while Kieran Tierney had to be withdrawn after 28 minutes.

The Scotland international's replacement Sead Kolasinac helped the Gunners get back on level terms.

His run down the left saw him pick out Gabriel Martinelli.

And the the Brazilian made no mistake from close range to mark his full Premier League debut with a goal. Moments later Nicolas Pepe completed the turnaround with a stunning strike.

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