Keown criticises ‘nervy’ Arsenal star in ‘tortuous’ win; hails ‘immense’ teammate | OneFootball

Martin Keown apparently is capable of criticising Arsenal as he hit out at a “nervy” star following their victory over Brighton on Wednesday, before reverting to norm in praise of a trio, including an “absolutely immense” Gunners man.

Bukayo Saka’s deflected strike gave Mikel Arteta’s side an early lead at the Amex before they defended staunchly to win all three points and move seven clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League after their shock draw with Nottingham Forest at the Etihad.

Fabian Hurzeler hit out at Arsenal’s anti-football after the game, insisting “I will never be that kind of manager who tries to win in that way”, but as Keown said after the game, the results at the Amex and Etihad now makes Arsenal “huge favourites” to win their first Premier League title in 22 years.

“It’s a massively significant night in the title race,” Keown said on TNT Sports. “Looking at that now, Arsenal have become huge favourites.

“But there’s hardly anything in it. Every game is really tough, it’s going to go right to the wire. Don’t get carried away.

“That was a great step in the right direction but it’s only one game. It can quickly disappear so you focus on the next match.”

Keown insisted Gabriel was “absolutely immense” in the absence of usual centre-back partner William Saliba and also praised the impact of Kai Havetz and Riccardo Calafiori off the bench.

But the defender was less complimentary about Declan Rice, who produced a “nervy” display not long after his shocking error in the North London derby against Tottenham.

“It was tortuous to watch at times but Gabriel’s performance at the back was absolutely immense,” Keown added.

“It was tense but you’ve got to keep going, Havertz came off the bench and gave a touch of class to the team. Calafiori as well gave Arsenal better balance in the second half.

“It was bit nervy at times from Declan Rice but boy that is an unbelievable result for Arsenal.”

Ex-England goalkeeper Rob Green said Arsenal “played badly” but “won’t care” as they took a big step towards the title.

“Arsenal can keep playing badly and winning all they like,” he said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “It’s the others that are faltering.

“Manchester City are faltering. And you just look at this Arsenal side and how they go about winning games, they manage to just grind out results and that’s all they’ve done tonight.

“They’ve had a stroke of good fortune. There’s not one player that can turn around and say they had a good game, except maybe Hincapie and maybe one or two others defensively. They don’t care, they won.”