There are few things as satisfying as an Arsenal victory over one of your most fierce rivals. In fact, I would go as far as to say that besides the winning of a trophy, it is the pinnacle feeling a fan can experience.
What makes these moments even more satisfying however is the saltiness of rival pundits and fans. Arsenal know all too well how they can be viewed at times. The club has forced itself into a top-four race that very few gave them hope of being involved in.
Manchester United were tipped to be title challengers by the likes of Gary Neville who even claimed they were one of the top four sides in Europe. So when a pretty poorly performing Arsenal side managed to get three goals and put to bed United’s hopes of top four, the fallout was brilliant.
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Paul Scholes in particular used his opportunity to complain about Mikel Arteta’s behaviour during the VAR process. He went as far as to call him a ‘disgrace’ for gesticulating during the analysis of the incident by the referee.
“I think Arteta is a disgrace there. He shouldn’t be allowed to do that. If you see it again, he actually goes to the crowd to try and influence the referee a little,” said Scholes to Premier League Productions.
“All the players around them as well. That shouldn’t be allowed. But it’s a little bit clumsy from Telles.”
A disgrace. Okay, a hyperbolic reaction considering how clumsily Telles pushed Bukayo Saka over in the box with the ball under the England international’s control.
This battle and fight that Arteta was showing has been what Manchester United have lacked all season. The divisiveness of their squad, the lack of assuredness surrounding their head coach and the consistently poor displays have put them in danger of missing out on even the Europa League.
Arsenal regressed and fell away because of the fractures in the dressing room and the overall lack of quality. It has taken time, a mentality change, serious money and ruthless departures, but the club is on the mend. Qualifying for the Champions League would be a wonderous achievement when looking at the youthful squad and clear gaps in the starting eleven.
Whilst Arsenal may not have the world-class talents that United have, Arteta has been able to extract more from his team than their rivals have produced. Martin Odegaard has been a shining light in the side, and it would take a brave fan to say they would swap him for Bruno Fernandes at this stage.
The Portuguese international looks lost and returning to that buzzword ‘disgrace’, Scholes should perhaps have aimed his criticisms at Fernandes for his certain red card worthy challenge that VAR chose to overlook. Rather disgracefully I might add.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho, £80m Harry Maguire, £50m Aaron Wan-Bissaka, David De Gea, Paul Pogba, Fernandes and company will find themselves outside of the elite European competition. If you want to talk about what’s disgraceful, maybe look inwards before targeting your crosshairs elsewhere.
