Neville revels in Arsenal fans' meltdown on 'over-celebrating' row

Gary Neville revels in Arsenal fans’ meltdown on ‘over-celebrating’ row as they bring up him kissing Paul Scholes and roaring in front of Liverpool supporters to defend under-fire Oleksandr Zinchenko

• Gary Neville slammed Arsenal for over-celebrating after their title collapse
• The pundit particularly hit out at Oleksandr Zinchenko’s passionate celebrations
• Arsenal fans were quick hit back at Neville, but he laughed off the criticism

Gary Neville has poked fun back at Arsenal fans who slammed him for his criticism of Oleksandr Zinchenko after the Gunners’ title challenge imploded.

Their 3-0 defeat to Brighton on Sunday coupled with Man City’s win over Everton by the same scoreline meant Pep Guardiola’s side went four points clear with a game in hand and they could now win the league this weekend.

When dissecting what went wrong for Mikel Arteta’s side, Neville accused Arsenal of ‘over-celebrating’ wins and claimed their players were guilty of becoming ‘too emotional’ as they battled with City.

The Sky Sports pundit used the viral social media clip of Oleksandr Zinchenko tooting his car horn and shouting ‘come on’ as he drove past a group of celebrating Arsenal fans following their 4-1 win over Crystal Palace in March as an example.

At that point, the Gunners sat eight points clear of City at the top of the table but a ruinous run of just nine points from a possible 21 has seen their title push be derailed.

Gary Neville has poked fun back at Arsenal fans who slammed him for his criticism of Oleksandr Zinchenko after the Gunners’ title challenge imploded

Zinchenko had posted an Instagram clip of him tooting his car horn and shouting ‘Come On’ to celebrating Arsenal supporters after they beat Crystal Palace 4-1 in March

Their title challenge has since imploded as they’ve picked up just nine points in seven games

City are now four points clear after Sunday’s results and still have a game in hand on Arsenal

And following his criticism, Arsenal fans were quick to hit back at Neville on social media.

One Arsenal supporter shared a photo of a MailOnline article from 2016 when the former United defender had admitted he would pay a £5,000 fine for his infamous celebration against Liverpool a hundred times over.

In the 2006 clash at Old Trafford, Rio Ferdinand had scored a last gasp winner to secure a 1-0 win before Neville celebrated madly in front of Reds supporters.

They also posted another screenshot from his playing days when Neville had criticised the FA for fining him for his passionate celebration in the aforementioned game, claiming that ‘they (must) want robotic players who are devoid of passion’.

They had captioned the two photos with: ‘This you @Gnev2?’.

The pundit shared the tweet and said ‘I think so,’ coupled with a party emoji.

Elsewhere, another tweet from a Gunners fan said: ‘Anyone remember Gary Neville kissing Paul Scholes on the lips as United beat City in 2010, only for Chelsea to win the league that year? Over-celebrating @GNev2?’

This was when Scholes scored an injury time winner against United’s bitter rivals during one of the final games of the 2009-10 season as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side battled with the Blues for the title.

The former United defender laughed off several tweets from Arsenal fans after his comments

Neville had accused the Gunners of becoming ‘too emotional’ in their title battle with Man City

Neville laughed the tweet off and simply said: ‘Look at them!’, with four crying with laughter emojis.

Meanwhile, Neville then added another tweet which said: ‘How many fan channels have Arsenal got?’, with the same emoji as he revelled in Arsenal fans’ meltdown.

In his original criticism of Zinchenko on Monday Night Football, the 48-year-old had said: ‘I always doubted whether this Arsenal team [could win the title], just looking at some of the things that were happening.

‘The over-celebrations against Aston Villa [after the 4-2 win in February]. I look at little things that might look a little bit harsh – Zinchenko celebrating an hour after the game with the fans outside and screaming.

‘You want your leaders in the team, who have been there before to spread composure around the dressing room and calm everybody down. You don’t want them to lift the anxiety, lift the emotion.’

Neville later responded to an Arsenal fan on Twitter, who said: ‘There are reasons Arsenal’s results have dipped but I don’t think Zinchenko tooting his car horn at some Arsenal fans is among them.’

He erroneously said the Zinchenko video emerged after the dramatic 3-2 win over Bournemouth rather than the Palace win just before the international break in March.

Gunners supporters had highlighted passionate celebrations from Neville when he was a player such as his infamous celebration against Liverpool in 2006 (left) and when he kissed Paul Scholes when United beat City in 2010 (right)

Neville’s comments on Monday Night Football were called out by one Arsenal fan on Twitter

Neville responded by arguing that Arsenal were unable to keep their cool under title pressure

But the fan pointed out both results were amidst a run of seven straight league wins which put Mikel Arteta’s side in a very strong position to clinch a first title since 2004. 

Neville later replied: ‘If he was tooting his horn 15 games out after beating Bournemouth, calling huddles 6 games out v the bottom of the league [the 3-3 draw with Southampton last month] I’m filling in the blanks of what was going on behind the scenes!!! I’ve seen it before from emotional teams!

‘The experience I’m talking from isn’t just from winning titles! I lost 4/5 title races as well.

‘Some emotions aren’t positive ones for a group even if they look it!’

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