Mikel Arteta has insisted that he has no issues with players arguing in the wake of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhae's spat at the end of Arsenal's win over Leicester - just days after Roy Keane praised Casemiro for rowing with Bruno Fernandes.
The Gunners ground out a 1-0 win over the Foxes at the weekend to retain their spot at the summit of the Premier League, but the post-match antics of Saliba and Gabriel have threatened to cast a shadow over Wednesday night's crunch meeting with Everton.
Arsenal's first-choice centre-back pairing were caught shoving each other following the win at the King Power Stadium. However, Arteta has claimed he has no qualms over the pair's disagreement and is happy they that the duo want more from each other.
When he was asked about the incident, the Spaniard said: "They love playing with each other. But they are really demanding of each other, which is good. Everything is fine."
Arteta continued: "I don't want robots, I want players with feeling, with passion, that they demand [more] from each other and that they have a chemistry, and those two certainly have that chemistry on and off the field. I love that even when winning, they want each other to do better."
Arteta's verdict on Saliba and Gabriel's spat comes just days after Keane lauded Casemiro for rowing with Fernandes after United's win in the Carabao Cup final at the weekend.
Casemiro, who scored the opening goal in United's 2-0 win over Newcastle, was at the heart of the celebrations after helping to end a six-year trophy drought. But he still found the time to have a heated exchange with Fernandes after the Portuguese midfielder spurned a golden opportunity to tee up a third goal by going for glory himself in the final moments.
Reacting on Sky Sports to images of the duo talking, Keane said: "Are they arguing there? Yep, maybe. I like that. I don't know what they're arguing about, but it shows they care."
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Although Arteta echoed similar sentiments after being quizzed on the flashpoint between Saliba and Gabriel, the Spaniard will be hoping that any differences were ironed out long before Wednesday night's match against Everton.
The Gunners will be desperate to avenge last month's shock defeat at Goodison Park and know to a win would enable them to restore a five-point cushion over Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
Speaking ahead of the match, Arteta said: "It's a case of doing things better than we did when we played them a few weeks ago and earning the right to win the game. Hopefully tomorrow we will play much better than we did that day. It's like with any opponent. We showed them what they do, what they are about, what we expect to do to try to beat them and nothing different.
"Obviously with Sean it's quite clear what he's done and where the success they've had is coming from. Tomorrow we'll prepare the game in an appropriate and similar way [to the away match]. But with every manager, it's the same.
"We have to look at certain matches, what they do and try to get the right tactics to beat them - and as well the same mentality and expectation of what we demand in the game."
