Arsenal’s celebrations following on Saturday were “embarrassing” and “disrespectful” to Fulham, according to Richard Keys, who has strengthened his opinion on the topic.
Keys sparked an online backlash on Saturday evening after claiming on beIN SPORTS that Arsenal had “over-celebrated” their 2-1 win over Fulham. The Gunners came from behind, following Aleksandar Mitrovic’s goal, to secure a fourth straight league win thanks to goals from Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Magalhaes.
The full-time whistle was met with joyous scenes at the Emirates Stadium, where Mikel Arteta, his players and the Arsenal fans enjoyed the fact they had reclaimed top spot in the Premier League. Their behaviour immediately sparked a debate on Twitter, with Keys and his punditry partner Andy Gray laying into Arsenal for what they saw as premature jubilation.
Laura Woods was among those to push back against the hot take, tweeting, “what is the point of football if you can’t enjoy it in the moment?” The beIN SPORTS clip has been viewed nearly 3million times in the last few days, with the vast majority of comments deriding Keys and Gray for their viewpoint.
That hasn’t put off Keys, however, who has added more meat to the bones of his opinion. “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. 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.
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“I say again - the win over Fulham was over-celebrated - and it was embarrassing. Proper Arsenal managers like George Graham or Arsene Wenger would’ve made a dignified exit and been off down the tunnel knowing full well that they’d got away with one.”
Keys has since been backed up by former Liverpool player Graeme Souness and ex-Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan on talkSPORT. “Richard and Andy are correct, they’ve won nothing,” Souness said. “It’s another step in the right direction, but their big tests are all ahead of them.”
Jordan added: “What he (Keys) is saying – and I agree with him to some extent – is that you’re celebrating mediocrity. You’ve won a game. For God’s sakes, what are you going to do if you actually win something?”
Keys also dedicated some words to one of his favourite topics: Mikel Arteta. He feels that the Arsenal manager’s behaviour on the touchline needs to be clamped down on by the organisation in charge of refereeing.
“When did Arteta get special dispensation to stand on the touch line for 90 minutes - waving his arms about like a broken windmill?” he wrote. “Literally - right on the touch line. Every other coach has to stay in his area - but not Arteta it seems.
"Why is this? Could somebody tell me? If he doesn’t have dispensation - could the PGMOL do something about it please? The coaching area is clearly marked and Arteta shouldn’t be marching up and down touch lines - nor entering the field of play - as he often does.”
