Gerrard shuts down Keown as feud develops over ‘world class’ Arsenal star – ‘Forget about that, Martin’
Steven Gerrard refused to be drawn into a blatant push for social media interaction on Wednesday as he shut down Martin Keown when the Arsenal legend made a play for backup in his wholly uninteresting feud with Graeme Souness.
Goals from Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice secured a point for Arsenal away in Munich against Bayern in the Champions League and Gerrard praised the “character and mentality shown by Mikel Arteta’s side.
“I did look at this game and think it was a wonderful opportunity for Arsenal to show why they’re Premier League champions and to go and win this game,” Gerrard told TNT Sports.
“Bayern were missing six or seven starters and the manager has been ill this week but credit to them because they played like men.
READ: Arsenal survive brilliant Ballon d’Or winner Kane – but did Rice ‘cheating’ salvage Bayern draw?
“I think Arsenal would have really fancied this game and might have been rubbing their hands together in the dressing room, but Bayern stood up, played some wonderful football.
“It would have been really unfair if Bayern had lost that, but then at the end it was Arsenal who needed to respond and they didn’t feel sorry for themselves.
“They’ve come here in a tough environment and gone 2-1 behind but they stood up, found the solution and showed real character and mentality.”
Not now, Martin
Gerrard was thoroughly impressed once again by Declan Rice’s performance, but looked genuinely irritated when Keown asked him about Souness claiming the England international “isn’t the complete midfielder”.
Souness claimed on Piers Morgan’s Uncensored that Rice plays “old man’s football” and is “cheating” by dropping deep to play between the two centre-backs.
“What about this nonsense about him [Rice] not being a top midfield player,” Keown asked Gerrard.
“Oh forget about that, Martin,” Gerrard bristled. “You’re thinking about things that are going on in your life away from here.
“Declan Rice is a world class midfielder and that was a top, top goal. But you don’t have to prove that because of all the other stuff that’s going on on all the other shows.”
Steven Gerrard wasn’t going to entertain any of Martin Keown’s shenanigans tonight 😂
#BAYARS https://t.co/8WsvJ7VJ3E— Jaja (@JajaBreed) October 21, 2026
Keown himself responded to Souness’ thoughts after Arsenal came back to beat Leeds 2-1 in the Premier League, hailing Rice for his part in Bruno Guimaraes’ winning goal.
“Shoutout to Declan Rice,” Keown said. “We have got Graeme Souness saying that he is not a midfield player – he is a number ten, isn’t he? Look at that flick! I think we underestimate how good some of these English players are. It is limitless for him, how he has improved.”
