Manchester United icon Gary Neville provided a brilliant riposte to an Arsenal fan who insisted the Gunners should ban the Sky Sports pundit from the Emirates Stadium. Neville was highly critical of Arsenal’s statement which criticised the refereeing during their Premier League defeat by Newcastle on Saturday.
The north Londoners complained to the PGMOL after they were beaten by the Magpies. They backed head coach Mikel Arteta’s criticism of the officiating and called for an “urgent” review into the standard of refereeing in the top-flight.
Arsenal said there were “unacceptable” decisions made by referee Stuart Attwell and the VAR team. But former defender Neville believes the statement issued by the club – in addition to a similar one made by Liverpool several weeks ago – was “wrong”.
Taking to social media, Neville said: “Arsenal’s letter and even the Liverpool statement a few weeks ago (they had a genuine bad [decision] v them) are wrong. Do it privately. If I was Howard Webb I would stop apologising to them and get on with it. Managers and players make far more mistakes than refs!”
The former England star then hit out at a fan with an excellent jibe. Neville was told that he and fellow Sky pundit Jamie Carragher should be banned from the Emirates Stadium for criticising Arsenal.
“To be fair with Spurs top now we will be coming less anyway,” Neville superbly responded with a winking emoji.
Tottenham fell to second in the Premier League after Manchester City’s 6-1 thumping of Bournemouth on Saturday. However, Arsenal’s defeat means they trail their north London rivals by two points.
Spurs could go five points clear of the Gunners if they beat Chelsea on Monday night. Arsenal will feel aggrieved to lose even more ground on their rivals after a controversial defeat by Newcastle at the weekend.
Arteta called the officiating a “disgrace” after Arsenal believed the ball had gone out of play before Anthony Gordon scored Newcastle’s winning goal. The Gunners also felt that Joelinton had pushed defender Gabriel before Gordon poked the ball into the net.
“I feel embarrassed but I have to be the one now coming here to try to defend the club and please ask for help, because it’s an absolute disgrace that this goal is allowed. It’s an absolute disgrace,” Arteta raged.
“It’s not a goal for many reasons. It’s not a goal, for more than one reason at least. It’s not a goal and it’s too much at stake here. We put in so much effort, it’s so difficult to compete at this level, and it’s an absolute disgrace.”
