BBC pundit Garth Crooks has blasted Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta for his attempts to waste time against Fulham last weekend.
The Gunners were 2-1 up against the Cottagers in second half stoppage time at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday when the ball went out of play by Arteta’s technical area.
The Spaniard picked the ball up as he appealed for a throw-in for his team, but the referee signalled Fulham’s way.
As Cottagers defender Kevin Mbabu ran over to take the ball off Arteta, the Arsenal manager threw the ball away to waste precious seconds as the clock ticked towards confirmation of a home win.
Crooks selected Gunners captain and goalscorer Martin Odegaard in his Team of the Week column on the BBC Sport website, but spent most of the section criticising Arteta.
‘The headline after Saturday’s win was “How Arteta is turning Arsenal into contenders”‘, Crooks wrote. ‘My only problem with that statement is I didn’t like the way the Arsenal manager went about it against Fulham.
‘With the final seconds ticking away, and the visitors chasing an equaliser, I was hopping with fury to see Mikel Arteta watch the ball roll off the pitch into the technical area, pick it up and then throw it away as the Fulham player was racing to get it back into play.
‘Managers should never touch the ball unless they intend to hand it back to the player. Bertie Mee or Arsene Wenger would never have behaved in such a manner – and they have won titles.’
Arsenal have taken maximum points from their opening four Premier League games of the season and sit top of the table ahead of their home fixture against struggling Aston Villa on Wednesday night.