'Too brutal': Pundit claims £35m Arsenal player is getting too much stick right now

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Arsenal aren't in the best of positions at the moment.

The Gunners are nine points off the top of the Premier League right now, and they've failed to win any of their last four matches.

Arsenal have issues at both ends of the pitch right now.

Kai Havertz has been criticised for his recent performances, while Arsenal's defence has been picked apart by injuries as the likes of Riccardo Calafiori and Ben White have been out of action recently.

Arsenal have had to field something of a makeshift defence as of late, but there still hasn't been room for Oleksandr Zinchenko to get a start.

Indeed, Arsenal have often opted to use Thomas Partey at right-back and shift Timber to the left.

The Ukrainian is out of favour at Arsenal right now, and Zinchenko has been criticised for his performances recently when he has played.

Speaking on the Handbrake Off podcast, Adrian Clarke has been discussing Zinchenko's current situation at Arsenal, and he believes that some of the stick Zinchenko has been getting recently has been too brutal.

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Oleksandr Zinchenko has been treated harshly

Clarke shared his verdict on Zinchenko and the position the defender finds himself in.

The pundit claimed that Zinchenko is being criticised way too much, and that he doesn’t deserve this treatment.

"It’s hard. It’s really hard. I don’t want to write off Zinchenko," Clarke said.

"He’s given me a lot of pleasure watching Zinchenko over the last few years. I’ve enjoyed a lot of what he’s done. I think maybe the criticism of him is a bit too brutal."

"Yeah, Myles Lewis-Skelly’s got great potential, but I’d probably have Zini."

Zinchenko's stats this season

It is interesting that Zinchenko is still something of a lightning rod for criticism as he's barely been playing for Arsenal this season.

Indeed, Zinchenko has been out with injury for most of this season, and when he has been fit, he's barely played.

Yes, Zinchenko hasn't necessarily pulled up any trees when he has played this season, but it's so hard to pick fault in a player who has featured so little this season.

Zinchenko hasn't had a chance to get in any sort of rhythm this term, so it's no surprise that he's not been at his best.

The former Man City star is a very talented player, Martin Odegaard even compared Zinchenko to Lionel Messi at one point, so, as Clarke says, now is not the time to write Zinchenko off.