Troy Deeney lays into 'naive' Mesut Ozil and says Arsenal 'lack cojones'

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Standard Sport14 October 2017

Troy Deeney launched a scathing review of Arsenal's performance after Watford fought back for a dramatic 2-1 Premier League win at Vicarage Road.

With Arsenal 1-0 up on Saturday courtesy of a Per Mertesacker goal, substitute Mesut Ozil had the chance to all but wrap up the game as the Germany international went through one-on-one with Heurelho Gomes.

Unfortunately for Arsenal, Ozil produced a poor finish as Gomes saved a shot straight down the centre of the goal - and the Gunners' frustrations were compounded within a minute as referee Neil Swarbrick adjudged Hector Bellerin to have fouled Richarlison for a penalty despite minimal contact.

While Arsenal fumed over the controversial call, Deeney - a fellow substitute - dispatched the spot kick to set up a grandstand finish, with Tom Cleverley scoring a 92nd-minute winner to send Marco Silva's Hornets fourth in the table.

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Ozil and Arsenal drew criticism for allowing the lead to slip away, and Deeney had some words of wisdom for the Gunners and their fans after another disappointing defeat.

Deeney told BT Sport: "I've heard Wenger's already blaming [the penalty] as the reason for why they lost. Well, I'm not going to be one to tell Mr Wenger about himself, but there's a reason that they lost and it wasn't because of one penalty.

"I have to watch what I say, but it's [having] a bit of cojones, is what I'll say. Whenever I play against Arsenal, I'll go up and think 'let me whack the first one and see who wants it'.

"I came on today and jumped up with Mertesacker - I didn't even have to jump, actually - I nodded it down, the crowd gets up, 'yeah we've got somebody who can win it', and they all just backed off.

"For me as a player, I just think 'happy days'. That's my strength - if you're going to let me do my strength against you, you're going to have a tough afternoon."

Deeney also suggested that Ozil's gilt-edged miss before Watford's penalty was a "naive" piece of finishing, while former Arsenal defender Martin Keown admitted his "blood would be boiling" if he was a current Gunners player listening to Deeney's assessment.

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Deeney freely admitted that while he is not as talented as some of Arsenal's stars, they lost themselves in a physical battle with the strong forward.

"I just think personally there's an element of that being an equaliser for me," he added. "I know I'm not technically gifted like they are, not as quick, but if you want to fight with me, I'm gonna beat you all day.

"If you want to come into my world and do that, you can do that, but you've got to be at a level where your excellence of keeping the ball, being fast and getting in the right positions are all 10/10 because my equaliser is I'm big, strong, and I do all the ugly stuff you don't wanna do, and I'm going to make it horrible for you."

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