Martin Keown Slams Roberto De Zerbi For Over Exuberant Celebrations Vs Arsenal
Martin Keown admits he is confused as to the acceptance of Roberto De Zerbi’s knee-slide celebrations during Brighton’s win over Arsenal yesterday.
De Zerbi led Brighton to a huge 3-0 win over the Gunners at the Emirates yesterday, pushing them up to 6th in the league table, while the loss for Arsenal means that if they lose to Nottingham Forest this Saturday evening, the title will be Manchester City’s.
In the midst of races for European places, emotions are running high amongst many managers and players and De Zerbi was caught doing a knee-slide celebration following his side’s third goal yesterday and this morning on Talksport, former Arsenal defender Keown was unhappy over people thinking it was ok for him to release his emotions in the way he did, saying that Mikel Arteta would be berated if he acted in the same way as the Italian.
“I honestly feel that if Arteta did a knee-slide down the side of the pitch, we’d never hear the end of it. But for some reason its ok for De Zerbi to do it?
“I like the emotion on show, but I think because it’s Brighton who are inoffensive and they’re everyone’s second favourite team, we turn a blind eye to it.”
Brighton have been one of the most entertaining teams in the league this season
Keown then brought up the question of whether the Italian should have been booked for actions, with his celebration spilling out onto the pitch.
“As a goalscorer, you take your shirt off and get a yellow card. Do you not think that if the manager comes racing onto the pitch like De Zerbi did with his celebration, is that not an automatic yellow card?”
With Arsenal just one game away from potentially losing the Premier League title, Keown’s frustrations are perhaps understandable, but credit to Brighton as they continue their push for European football next season.
