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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Kieran King

Jamie Carragher labels Jakub Kiwior's behaviour "embarrassing" in Arsenal defeat

Jamie Carragher was far from impressed with Jakub Kiwior's defending in the lead-up to Brighton's opening goal against Arsenal on Sunday.

The Pole lost his boot during a melee in Arsenal's six-yard box after a clash with Julio Enciso and stayed down clutching his foot in pain. Brighton played in another cross while Kiwior was on the floor and Enciso was left free, unmarked to head beyond Aaron Ramsdale.

Brighton scored two further goals through Denis Undav and Pervis Estupinan to inflict a damaging 3-0 defeat on the Gunners, which all but ended their Premier League title charge. After the game, Carragher took to Twitter to have his say on whether it was a foul on Kiwior - and the ex-Liverpool defender didn't think it was.

He said: "It was embarrassing Kiwior stayed down whether it was a foul or not (it wasn't) there was very little wrong with him. Get up and defend like your life depends on it."

Unsurprisingly, Kiwior felt he was fouled in the build-up to Enciso's strike and admitted he hoped VAR would intervene and rule out the goal. The 23-year-old was making his third successive start after coming into the side for Rob Holding.

"I felt contact & lost my boot," Kiwior told Sky Sports. "I didn’t even see the goal. I hoped VAR would intervene & rule out the goal, but unfortunately the referee saw it differently. After we conceded the second goal, our heads dropped & we couldn’t come back."

That sparked a debate from Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Micah Richards and Patrick Viera, who all had their say on the incident. First, Keane said: "His foot didn't come off."

Was it a foul? Let us know in the comments below!

(Julian Finney/Getty Images)

"Kiwior is injured but the fact that he was injured, I mean... He goes down holding his ankle and left Arsenal short in the middle of the box," Neville said on commentary, sighing.

"He goes down. Can he not just - I'm scared of saying it... And I'm sure the lads in the studio, Roy and Patrick [Viera], might be thinking it and have a bit more to say. If you're injured you're injured. But as a centre half, surely you just have to stand up and let the attack finish?"

Keane later added: " You talk about putting your body on the line, last-ditch defending and stuff, you don’t stay down like that. Micah, his boot came off, his foot didn’t come off."

The result for Arsenal leaves them four points behind Manchester City and Pep Guardiola's side need to win one of their remaining three matches to lift the title. City host Chelsea and travel to Brighton and Brentford before the end of the season, while Arsenal face Nottingham Forest and Wolves.

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