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7 February 2021

Alexandre Lacazette and Emi Martinez Twitter spat as Pepe joins in

Alexandre Lacazette was adjudged to have fouled Emi Martinez by Chris Kavanagh
Alexandre Lacazette was adjudged to have fouled Emi Martinez by Chris Kavanagh

Alexandre Lacazette and Emi Martinez disagreed on social media over an incident in the match between Arsenal and Aston Villa on Saturday.

In all honesty, Arsenal didn’t do enough to deserve a win against Aston Villa on Saturday. All the same, there were a couple of contentious incidents that angered their supporters and could potentially have changed the game.

The first involved a last-man foul on Bukayo Saka. Even though Saka was clearly through on goal and brought down without any touch on the ball, the referee only gave a yellow, presumably because the incident happened so far outside the box.

Then former Arsenal goalkeeper Emi Martinez hauled Alexandre Lacazette to the floor by his shirt on a corner, but the referee and VAR decided not to give a penalty. The replays showed the shirt-pull very clearly.

After a tough week with refereeing decisions, Lacazette was clearly frustrated to see this one go against him. He replied to a clip of the incident to say “another one…”.

However, Martinez clearly didn’t like being called out for his foul, responding, “you were pushing me first bro”.

Obviously, that’s nonsense, as you can see in the clip that any contact Lacazette is making with Martinez is negligible compared to the shirt pull.

Nicolas Pepe also responded to the incident by reposting the clip on his Instagram story along with a sceptical-looking emoji.

It’s just another potentially game-changing incident the officials have got wrong this week.

23 December 2020

Abuse forces Alex Runarsson to delete Twitter account

Arsenal's Spanish manager Mikel Arteta (C) consoles Arsenal's Icelandic goalkeeper Runar Alex Runarsson (R) after the English League Cup quarter final football match between Arsenal and Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium, in London on December 22, 2020. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP)
Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta (C) consoles Arsenal’s Icelandic goalkeeper Runar Alex Runarsson (R) after the English League Cup quarter final football match between Arsenal and Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium, in London on December 22, 2020. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP)

Alex Runarsson has deleted his Twitter account after abuse from fans following his poor showing in goal against Manchester City.

I get it. People are angry.

Runar Alex Runarsson is not good enough to be an Arsenal goalkeeper and his mistakes cost Arsenal at the Etihad on Tuesday night.

None of that is his fault, though.

He should never have been purchased for a club like Arsenal.

Picked up from Dijon for £1.8m in the summer, the Icelandic keeper was brought to the club to replace Matt Macey, not Emi Martinez. You know, the Matt Macey who has been at Arsenal for seven years and has made two appearances for the first team.

Runarsson has already made five.

Think of it this way – would it be your fault if Arsenal bought you and you agreed to sign for them even though you knew you were not good enough?

Would it be your fault if you said ‘OK’ when the manager told you you were starting against Manchester City? Or would you be excited and give it your best shot?

Yes, Runarsson made basic errors. Of course he did. He is not a good keeper. He only kept seven cleansheets for Dijon in 45 matches and just 11 in 62 with FC Nordsjaelland.

Does that deserve the level of abuse he’s received? Absolutely not.

What the abuse has done, however, is make sure that a player who was already clearly feeling awful about his performance now feels even worse.

That seems like an excellent way to help him and Arsenal, I’m sure you’ll agree.

That’s sarcasm, btw, for those inclined to miss such things.