Arsenal was beaten 2-1 by Brighton in their second game back from the suspension of the Premier League.
After losing 3-0 to Manchester City in their midweek fixture, the Gunners were expected to respond to that loss by earning a win against the Seagulls.
They took the lead when a very quiet Nicolas Pepe popped up with the first goal of the game in fine fashion.
Arsenal’s lead didn’t last long however as Lewis Dunk equalized for the home side a few minutes later.
Neal Maupay would eventually get a late winning goal for Graham Potter’s side, but Rio Ferdinand is not impressed by how Arsenal protected their lead and he was particularly disappointed with Alexandre Lacazette after the Frenchman made it too easy for Dunk to equalize for the hosts.
Ferdinand claimed that Arsenal’s defending as a team was a poor one but Alexandre Lacazette should have done better when defending in the lead up to Brighton’s first goal.
He told BT Sport as quoted by the Metro: ‘Here, the defending from Arsenal’s point of view is very slack. One player goes out to play against two, we see it straight away. You’ve got to get people out. Saka at the back is a bit laboured, he’s got to get out in line with the defending line here.
‘In the end it’s a very good ball but Lacazette’s got to get out there and be brave and defend the cross properly. He’s got his hands behind his back. I don’t like defending like that in the box. Get out there (with your) full body.
‘Dunk puts his body on the line, gets the final touch and gets it over the line. Mikel Arteta will look at that and think from a set-piece perspective we’ve got to do better than that.’
