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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Josh O'Brien

Arsenal's celebrations continue to irk opponents six years on from Danny Welbeck winner

The Emirates Stadium played host to a story that promised a happy ever after for Arsenal on Valentine's Day 2016, only for it to fall apart in the weeks thereafter.

February 14 six years ago saw Danny Welbeck glance home the most vital of last-gasp headers to hand Arsenal all three points in what was tipped as a title decider between the Gunners and Leicester City.

The former Manchester United man was featuring for the first time since April 2015 after a serious knee injury threatened to curtail the rest of his career and returned in the most spectacular fashion to keep his side's title hopes alive.

After Jamie Vardy had handed the Foxes the lead following a controversially-awarded penalty, Theo Walcott sparked the game into life with 20 minutes to play thanks to his equaliser.

The stage was set for Welbeck, introduced off the bench during the second-half.

HAVE YOUR SAY! Do Arsenal celebrate their results in excessive fashion? Comment below

Danny Welbeck celebrates scoring Arsenal's second goal late on against Leicester City (David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty)

Arsenal were awarded one final free-kick with seconds left to play, such was the severity of the situation Mesut Ozil appeared to recite a small prayer prior to taking the dead-ball.

Silence stifled the Emirates as the mercurial playmaker lofted a pinpoint cross onto the head of Welbeck who flicked it beyond the despairing dive of Kasper Schmeichel. Cue absolute pandemonium.

The Gunners stars hurdled advertising hoardings as they sprinted to celebrate with fans celebrating wildly on the terraces.

While that may be understandable given the nature of the goal, celebrations continued long after the full-time whistle and Arsenal's stars flooded social media with dressing room photos and videos.

It was a move that proved to backfire, as Foxes captain Wes Morgan recently admitted those same videos provided Leicester with the perfect motivation to beat the Gunners to the title later that season.

The result only placed Arsenal two points behind Claudio Ranieri's side and while reducing the gap to two when it could have been extended to eight had Vardy's goal been the only one of the game - the Gunners may have gone overboard.

"I remember us all sitting in the changing rooms afterwards thinking 'what's happened here?' We were all upset, and no one was really talking to each other," Morgan told Ladbrokes.

"But I remember being on the coach on the way home after the game... one of the boys got social media up on his phone and showed us videos of the Arsenal team celebrating in their changing room.

Wes Morgan has since revealed how Leicester took objection to Arsenal's celebrations that day ((Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images))

"You'd have honestly thought they'd won the league. We started looking at each other and saying "look at that; we're little old Leicester, it's our second season in the Premier League and they're celebrating like they've just beaten Barcelona.

"Those pictures and videos affected us; if anything they made us more determined. Look back at the rest of the fixtures that season and you'll see we didn't lose another game after that.

"It was a key moment in the season. We looked at the negative and turned it into a positive. The run we went on after that defeat was incredible, and I think those images of Arsenal celebrating were in the back of all of our minds."

Danny Welbeck's goal prompted wild celebrations ((Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images))

Fast forward six years later and Morgan's words read eerily similar to the comments of Wolves duo Ruben Neves and Conor Coady.

Both of the Molineux favourites publicly revealed their dislike for the manner in which what is now Mikel Arteta's Arsenal side celebrate their recent 1-0 victory over Bruno Lage's side.

The objectives may have changed, Arsenal are no longer vying for titles and instead are simply pursuing a top-four finish but the reaction to wins remains the same.

Gabriel bundled home the only goal of the game against Wolves earlier this month and Arsenal's current crop fell to the floor in relief once the full-time whistle had blown.

Gabriel and Aaron Ramsdale celebrate Arsenal's recent win over Wolves ((Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images))

Ben White let out a shout in celebration, while Aaron Ramsdale threw his shirt into the away end long after the Wolves players had returned to the dressing room.

"We saw the way they celebrated the win and that shows the level we are. I didn’t see Arsenal celebrating like this in the past 10 years – it was like they won the league," Neves explained post-match.

His sentiments were echoed by his captain Coady.

"We seen them, we heard them, we obviously seen the whole thing. I know Ruben has spoken about it," Coady told the BBC Football Daily podcast.

"They celebrated quite hard, didn't they? It probably shows how big the game was to them. It was big to us as well. Listen, we spoke about it all week. We prepared well, we made sure we were ready.

Ben White and Aaron Ramsdale of Arsenal celebrate after the 1-0 win over Wolves ((Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images))
Wolves players went public with their objection of Arsenal's celebrations after the game ((Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images))

"I actually thought we played quite well in the game if I'm being honest. We had the ball, we created different things, but Arsenal are a top side.

"We seen the celebrations, I'll be honest with you, from our point of view we really didn't like them. We've got two weeks to try and put things right when we go back to the Emirates and try to put on a good game against them."

Arsenal's season fell apart shortly after that fateful game against Leicester half a dozen years ago.

The very next match-week saw the Gunners lose ground in their title race after losing 3-2 to a youthful Manchester United side in a clash that saw a teenage Marcus Rashford score his first Premier League goals.

Arteta must ensure the same does not happen again in the weeks to come after his side put themselves in such a promising position in their quest for Champions League qualification.

They welcome Brentford to the Emirates, before Wolves make the trip to north London looking to make Arsenal regret their celebrations once again.

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