Arsenal legend Martin Keown has blasted Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi for how he set his team up against Manchester City and made a quip about the Italian getting his teeth done because everyone thought he would succeed Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
The Gunners were hoping for a favour from Brighton on Thursday evening as Manchester City headed to the south coast.
Brighton were 3-0 down within 34 minutes though and eventually lost the game 4-0, a result which put Manchester City just a point behind Arsenal and with a game in hand.
Keown is unhappy with how De Zerbi set up his Brighton team and made a quip about him having taken his eye off the ball this season as he was touted for the Liverpool job and got his teeth done.
“You see Brighton last night, naively trying to pass out from the back and you think OK, what’s it all about; is this about the manager’s ego or is this about the quality of their play, that’s all I’m saying”, Keown said on talkSPORT.
“I’ve been concerned about Brighton all season.
“He went off to get his teeth changed didn’t he? And everyone thought he was going to be the manager of Liverpool, De Zerbi.
“Maybe that was the remit because he looked at Klopp, and after that he hasn’t been anywhere near the job.
“£120m of profit and they set the benchmark, but something is going wrong with their manager and the way they play their football.”
Brighton are 16th in the Premier League form table taken over the last nine games, having picked up only nine points; Arsenal won both their meetings with Brighton this season, as did Manchester City, while Liverpool were held to a draw on the south coast.
Liverpool now look to appoint Arne Slot as their new manager and it remains to be seen if any big clubs will go for De Zerbi this summer.
