'He needs minutes': Wright defends Lokonga after Odegaard rant

Arsenal midfielder Sambi Lokonga had a night he would want to forget in a hurry in Arsenal's FA cup defeat to Man City on Friday night.

The worst moment of his performance was Martin Odegaard  yelling at him after a play when Lokonga was poorly positioned on the pitch.

For Ian Wright, however, this is a consequence of a lack of playing time Lokonga has at Arsenal, not a reason to sideline him even further.

"With someone like Sambi, he needs minutes, he needs to be playing, he needs to be able to understand and be more wary of where he is and what he needs to do and where he needs to be dropping in," Wright said on ITV.

"You’ve got to kind of sense that danger and that’s why he needs the minutes in games of this quality, because that’s where you learn."

This season, Lokonga has only played 196 minutes across six games in the Premier League.

The 23-year-old is behind Granit Xhaka, Thomas Partey and even Mohamed Elneny in terms of Arteta's midfield order.