Richard Keys has hit out at ‘irritating’ Mikel Arteta and has accused supporters of ‘over-celebrating’ their 2-1 victory over Fulham on Saturday.
Aleksandar Mitrovic gave Fulham the lead at the Emirates Stadium but equalised before Gabriel scored a late winner to extend Arsenal’s perfect start to the new Premier League campaign.
Arsenal supporters, players and Arteta were jubilant after the final whistle but Keys took exception to the Gunners’ celebrations.
‘It’s Fulham, and they trailed for one time,’ Keys said on beIN SPORTS.
‘Yeah, well played, you came back to win it and they keep their 100 per cent record intact.
‘But they haven’t won the title tonight. They’ve won a derby. Let’s not get too carried away. We’re four games into the season.’
Andy Gray then replied: ‘I don’t think the players will. I don’t think Arteta will. I get the fans getting over excited.
‘Listen, if you want me to be blunt about Arsenal, I like what I see, right? But they’ve beaten Palace, Leicester, Bournemouth and Fulham. It’s not a who’s who of big teams.
‘I said to you at half time, that’s something they’ll have to do [learn how to win ugly]. When things are not great, they’ll get a bit of luck, that first goal from Odegaard, there was a deflection otherwise they don’t score. We saw Bernardo Silva do the same for Man City [against Crystal Palace] and they go on and win it.
‘This is over hype. It’s Fulham. This is a league game. If this was the semi-final of the cup somewhere and you’d won, then I get that. Maybe this is what he [Arteta] wants to instil here, I don’t know. I would say it’s dangerous because you’re going to have plenty of downs, that’s for sure.’
Keys then took aim at Arteta following Arsenal’s win
‘I can’t hide the fact I find him [Arteta] extremely irritating,’ Keys said.
‘Waving his arms around like a windmill for 90 minutes, as if anyone can hear him, let alone see him. And he’s never in his technical area.
‘They’ve over-celebrated this – it’s a 2-1 win against newly promoted Fulham.’
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