Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has vowed that the Gunners squad will continue to celebrate passionately after each Premier League win they register this season.
Mikel Arteta's side enjoyed a stellar come-back win over Fulham at the Emirates on Saturday after going a goal behind due to Aleksandr Mitrovic's strike midway through the second-half. Arsenal showed impressive resilience to overturn the deficit and come away with all three points.
The game marked the first time Arsenal have been losing due to a goal conceded in the second half and gone on to win since Boxing Day 2013. Therefore, the atmosphere on the terraces and the pitch itself was electric, much to the dismay of some onlookers.
BeIN Sports presenter Richard Keys laid into the Gunners after the full-time whistle blew in North London. He labelled the scenes as "embarrassing" and "disrespectful" to Fulham.
"Arsenal over-celebrated their win over Fulham. It was disrespectful to the opposition. And for me - it is a measure of how far they’ve fallen," he wrote in his blog. "I’m not blaming the fans. I get it. Enjoy your wins. Enjoy your day out - you’ve spent enough on it - but Arteta and his coaching staff went over the top. They were running round like they’d just won the CL [ Champions League ].
"They’d beaten newly-promoted Fulham 2-1. That’s all. Nothing more. Save the drama for a win over Spurs, Liverpool, or a valiant performance against City the likes of which Newcastle gave the previous week. I say again - the win over Fulham was over-celebrated - and it was embarrassing."
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Considering the victory maintained Arsenal's 100 per cent start to the Premier League season, goalkeeper Ramsdale feels the players and staff were well within their rights to celebrate in the manner that they did.
Pressed for comment on whether he feels the backlash may inspire a change in the way the players conduct themselves after a win, Ramsdale explained: "Any game in the Premier League is tough to win, it doesn’t matter what people say about celebrating, we’re going to celebrate how we want to, every Premier League win we get.
"This the loudest I’ve heard [Emirates Stadium]. Obviously it helps that we’re winning on the pitch, but it’s in the times of struggle within the game that they’re coming to our aid and helping us, and it really does lift us. Hopefully we can carry on winning these games at home and make it a fortress."
Ramsdale is a particularly influential figure in the Arsenal dressing room and it is more than likely that the same defiant attitude he has towards Keys' comments is reflected among the rest of the Gunners crop.
