Richard Keys can't resist swipe at 'fool' Mikel Arteta after latest punishment

19 December 2023 , 10:17

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Richard Keys can't resist swipe at 'fool' Mikel Arteta after latest punishment

Richard Keys has told Mikel Arteta to "stop behaving like a fool in your technical area" after the Arsenal boss was booked again.

Arteta received his fourth yellow card of the season on Sunday in his team's 2-0 win against Brighton. He's the most booked manager in the Premier League this season and has already served a one-match touchline ban for breaching the three-card threshold.

Arteta will be banned for a further two games if he receives an eighth yellow card this term, while 16 bookings will lead to an FA misconduct hearing. Any manager who is sent off in a Premier League game will receive a minimum one-match touchline ban.

Keys, who has criticised Arteta many times before, took a fresh swipe at him in his latest blog post. Although he's "defended a manager's right to express his thoughts after a game", the beIN Sports presenter wants to see Arteta tone down his behaviour.

"Stop it," wrote Keys. "Stop behaving like a fool in your technical area - and stop taking us all for fools. It’s not clever. It’s not necessary. And you can control it. You deserved your latest booking. Let’s make it the last one eh?"

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Arteta was booked against Brighton after appearing to react to Karou Mitoma's foul on Bukayo Saka during the first half of Sunday's game. But the Gunners manager claimed in his post-match press conference: "I was waving at (Gabriel) Martinelli."

Mikel Arteta was booked again on Sunday (Getty Images)

Do you agree with Richard Keys? Let us know in the comments below!

Keys isn't the only pundit to criticise Arteta for his touchline antics. "I respect the fact he's booked Arteta for getting in the fourth official's face too because he does it too often," Clinton Morrison told BBC Radio 5 Live immediately after Arteta's latest booking.

The Spaniard's third yellow card of the campaign - and ban - came after he celebrated Declan Rice's last-minute winner at Luton earlier this month. I could not be seated in my seat," he told beIN Sports. "It was pure emotion. If that's a yellow... that's a yellow."

Arteta also referenced his punishment in his press conference: "I think we have a boundary that maybe we have to extend or we just need a very strong rope with the bench so maybe we don’t move. That means we don’t move, all of us, we don’t move."

And he questioned the strictness of the rules. He added: "I don't know how to stop (celebrating), it was a really emotional moment. You have everybody bouncing around and you lose sense of where you are, and the space that you have to be in."

Tom Blow