Gary Neville has accused Arsenal of ‘over-celebrating’ victories before their Premier League title collapsed with their players guilty of getting ‘too emotional’ as they struggled against Manchester City.
The Sky Sports pundit used the viral social media clip of Oleksandr Zinchenko honking his car horn and shouting ‘come on’ as he drove past a group of celebrating Arsenal fans after their 4-1 win over Crystal Palace in March as an example.
By then the Gunners were eight points clear of City at the top of the table, but a ruinous run of just nine points from a possible 21 saw Arsenal overtaken with Pep Guardiola’s side close to securing a third consecutive title.
Analyzing Arsenal’s 3-0 home defeat to Brighton on Sky’s Monday Night Football, Neville said: “I always doubted this Arsenal team, just watching some of the things that were going on.
‘Excessive celebrations against Aston Villa [after the 4-2 win in February]. I look at the little things that may seem a bit harsh – Zinchenko celebrates an hour after the game with the fans outside and shouting.
Oleksandr Zinchenko posted an Instagram clip of him honking his car horn and shouting ‘Come on’ to celebrate Arsenal fans after beating Crystal Palace 4-1 in March
Gary Neville has accused Arsenal of getting ‘too emotional’ in their title battle with Man City
“You want your leaders in the team, who have been there before, to spread calm in the dressing room and calm everyone down. You don’t want them to lift the anxiety, lift the emotion.
Neville replied to an Arsenal fan on Twitter, who said: “There are reasons why Arsenal’s results have fallen but I don’t think Zinchenko honking his car horn at some Arsenal fans makes that any worse. part.”
Neville incorrectly said Zinchenko’s video appeared after the dramatic 3-2 win over Bournemouth rather than Palace’s victory just before the international break in March.
But the fan pointed out that both results came in the middle of a seven-game winning streak in the league, which puts Mikel Arteta’s side in a very strong position to clinch a first title since 2004.
Neville later replied: “If it rang 15 games after beating Bournemouth, calling caucuses 6 games against bottom of the league [the 3-3 draw with Southampton last month].
“I’m filling in the blanks for what’s going on behind the scenes!!! I’ve seen it from emotional crews before!
“The experience I’m talking about isn’t just winning titles!” I also lost 4/5 title races.
“Some emotions are not positive for a group even if they seem to be!”
Neville’s comments on Monday Night Football were recalled by an Arsenal fan on Twitter
Neville responded by saying Arsenal were unable to keep their cool under title pressure
Gunners players rally ahead of the second half of their 3-3 draw with lowly Southampton
City, who are now four points clear of Arsenal with one game less, could be champions again this weekend if the Gunners lose at Nottingham Forest.
In an exclusive interview with Mail Sport in March, Zinchenko opened up about his celebration after the game against Palace.
“It’s one of my favorite corners of London,” he said. “Every time I pass this pub – because it’s my way home – and every time there are lots of Arsenal fans.
“Every time I try to roll down my window and scream because after (a game) I have incredible energy. And you just want to share those emotions with them.
The Ukrainian defender added: “We are not robots, we are human beings. We just do our job and when that job is successful, why don’t we have the right (to celebrate)? I don’t understand .
“Of course we haven’t won the Premier League yet and there are still a lot of games to play. But every Premier League game is so difficult… that’s why we celebrate.
Neville also said on Sky: “I think there’s an element of title rejection because of the nature of the defeats.
‘Be up in games, be 2-0 in two games [at Liverpool and West Ham], losing 3-1 to bottom of the league. Yesterday this happened.
“In 2023, we are not using the same emotional language as in previous years.
“There’s no doubt that if it went back to the Kevin Keegan era it would be portrayed very harshly, that Arsenal team would now be under attack for what’s happened in recent weeks.”
Reality sinks in for Arsenal players as they crumble over damaging home loss to Brighton
Mikel Arteta’s side have come so close and yet so far in their title chase against Manchester City
City are now four points clear after Sunday’s results and still have one game in progress against Arsenal
Granit Xhaka taking on Trent Alexander-Arnold at Anfield (left) and Aaron Ramsdale’s lost pass against Southampton (right) can be seen as fatal moments for Arsenal’s title challenge
“But we are obviously much more aware and much more aware of the language we use around this.
“But what we have to say about that is that at the elite level, at high performance levels, you have to make sure that you’re performing, whether it’s Augusta coming up or the World Championships in snooker, whether it’s the Olympics Games, the greatest moments, the most pressing moments, you have to deliver it at those times.
“I said I was cold during the title race and I just think there was an element of emotion. Xhaka at Anfield [squaring up to Trent Alexander-Arnold with Arsenal 2-0 ahead]Partey loses form in games and gets the ball caught in difficult moments.
“From all of this it has become very difficult for them mentally and it has caused them a big problem for the last few weeks.”