Arteta ‘steals from Klopp’ and Neville, Carragher proved right over Arsenal celebrations

Arsenal have form for over-celebrating and subsequently bottling it. Well, not really but still. The real police might be interested in Mikel Arteta.

Food for thought
What, dear reader, is the biggest story in all of football on Tuesday lunchtime, JUST HOURS AFTER Phil Foden scored a hat-trick to put Manchester City in control of the Premier League title race, following a weekend rife with talking points and celebration policing.

Let The Sun website inform us all:

Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag enjoys four-hour dinner with his agent and Robin van Persie at Italian restaurant

A rare case of an entire story being packed into the headline there. Because that is literally the extent of this apparently eminently newsworthy piece of information: Erik ten Hag and some other people ate food.

If this is a developing story then Mediawatch is not sure it wants the next update; certainly not considering there was ‘hand-made pasta, pizzas, seafood, and meat dishes’ on the menu.

Celebrate good times, come on
The narrative of Arsenal daring to be happy about beating Liverpool drives on unabated through Tuesday, with this headline popping up in the MailOnline:

Arsenal’s antics after beating Liverpool 3-1 have been blasted, but numbers show Mikel Arteta’s side struggle after going big on the celebrations… Will history now repeat itself again?

And this is interesting. Have officers Carragher and Neville been right all this time? Do Arsenal have previous for ‘going big’ and then immediately falling flat on their collective faces?

Dominic Hogan brings us the evidence, citing two particular results: the 3-2 win over Bournemouth in March; and the 4-3 win over Luton in December.

After coming from behind to beat Bournemouth, Arsenal went on to win just five of their next 11 Premier League games, their title bid crumbling around on all sides, and were dumped out of the Europa League by Sporting Clube de Portugal.

That is one possible reading of what happened. An alternative is that Arsenal won their next three Premier League games, each by three clear goals, before losing William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu to injuries in the same Europa League game and understandably struggling to immediately acclimatise when Rob Holding was forced to start.

The Luton case is perhaps a little more relevant as Arsenal lost their next league match and indeed only won one of the subsequent four. Nothing to do with an intense fixture list, of course, and all down to them celebrating winning a game in stoppage-time.

Either way, a single example of the Gunners tailing off a little after ‘going big on the celebrations’ is hardly compelling evidence of a running theme. But the chief Arsenal-hating Celebration Police officers will appreciate such important work nevertheless.

Steal works
This headline on the Liverpool Echo is practically begging to be clicked:

Mikel Arteta steals from Jurgen Klopp as Mike Dean dismisses Liverpool moans

Finally, an actual, official police charge which can be levelled against Arsenal.

That is not the fairest reflection of what Ian Doyle actually wrote, mind, that being: ‘Mikel Arteta opted to embrace a Klopp trademark by delivering a triple fist-pump towards the jubilant home fans.’

Not sure the ‘I was just embracing all that money’ defence would stand up in court on embezzlement charges, for example.

While we’re here, might as well look at the Mike Dean stuff.

Klopp was less than impressed with the decision to send off Ibrahima Konate for two bookable offences, particularly when Arsenal centre-back Gabriel escaped any censure for a similar incident with Darwin Nunez.

Referee Anthony Taylor, though, found a friend in former whistle-blower Mike Dean, who was in attendance at the Emirates.

And when asked by the ECHO after the game whether the dismissal was correct, Dean answered: “Yeah, yeah.”

Groundbreaking journalism. Hope they don’t mind Mediawatch embracing it in full for this column.

16 Conclusions from Arsenal 3-1 Liverpool: Alisson-Van Dijk disasterclass has Gunners dreaming again

I believe in miracles
‘Anyway, who would be daft enough to bin their boss in the run up to a Wembley final? Tottenham did it to Jose Mourinho in 2021 and it proved a disaster. Chelsea’s specialist subject at the moment’ – Andy Dillon, The Sun.

Reckon there are probably a few Chelsea fans out there who would take the ‘disaster’ of losing 1-0 to an 82nd-minute goal against one of the best teams in the world.

The Blues were literally battered 4-1 by their final opponents a week ago. Do not sully Ryan Mason’s good name for leading Spurs to a narrow defeat within a week of him being appointed interim manager.

Pochettino is famed for his ability to develop young players but is getting nowhere fast with the costly collection of individuals dumped on him by Chelsea’s transfer department.

Getting them to the Carabao Cup final on February 25 is a miracle. That they look destined to get ripped apart by Liverpool at Wembley is another matter.

Beating one Premier League rival in 90 minutes and overcoming Championship mid-table side Middlesbrough in the semi-final after losing the first leg truly is turning water into wine.

Mad Hatters
Fair play to Garth Crooks, who uses the advent of a full Premier League midweek and weekend schedule to maximise the amount of goalscorers in his BBC Sport Team of the Week.

Eight this time around, with Douglas Luiz and David Raya letting the team down; Gabriel presumably gets in on the technicality of scoring an own goal against Liverpool.

Fabian Schar gets the nod entirely on the back of his two goals in Newcastle’s win over Aston Villa, with Crooks masterfully sidestepping the rather awkward issue of him subsequently making up part of a defence which conceded four goals at home to Luton.

A fine result for the Hatters. A spirited draw against a Champions League side, one of the best home teams in the Premier League, having trailed on two separate occasions. That’s one defeat in nine for Luton now, who really do look quite impressive.

Enter Garth (as part of his explanation for Schar’s TOTW inclusion, of course):

Newcastle held their nerve and produced a result having been 4-2 down while Luton caved in, the reason I still think they won’t survive.

Because they drew 4-4 at Newcastle? Arsenal, Brentford, Burnley, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham and Manchester United have all lost at St James’ Park this season; Aston Villa were battered 5-1 by the Magpies. Not sure Luton getting a point there is all that bad, even if they did lead at one stage.

Garth returns to the subject when discussing Elijah Adebayo, saying:

I had consigned Luton to the scrapheap months ago but their season has suddenly become interesting.

You did indeed say you ‘can’t take them seriously and see them down by Christmas’, which you seem weirdly proud to reference. And they have been ‘interesting’ for ages.

However, when a team scores four goals away from home they are not just expected to win, they are entitled to win. The mere fact Luton scored four goals and still failed to take all three points raises massive questions about their ability to remain in the league.

It sure doesn’t. Mind you, everyone remembers when Arsenal went down in the 2010/11 season after a 4-4 draw at St James’ Park. Crooks has nailed it yet again.

Rash ointment
The quickest of words for Crooks’ closing point on Marcus Rashford’s recent actions:

The late, great Frank Worthington will always be remembered for scoring the goal of the season for Bolton against Ipswich in 1979. However, towards the end of his career he was asked which were his best clubs and in typical fashion he responded: “Stringfellows, Tramp and the Millionaire.” Footballers drinking and frequenting nightclubs is nothing new and was the norm in the 1970s and ’80s. In fact you were considered rather odd if you didn’t.

So why is Marcus Rashford being vilified and his private life suddenly of national media interest since he was seen in Belfast nightspots before missing training with Manchester United after reporting ill?

Because he was seen in Belfast nightspots before missing training with Manchester United after reporting ill. Happy to help.