Gunners ESCAPE FA punishment, Keown blasts Arsenal star for ‘killing everybody’ with his indecision
We have a strong will
William Saliba believes Arsenal’s recent 2-2 draw against Sporting CP shows the Gunners can never give up and can always come back to score.
He said: “As always, we never give up and we scored the second goal. It’s a home game and we’ll give everything to win.
“We conceded two goals and the most important thing is that we didn’t lose and we still have one game left.
“It’s always bad to concede two goals and one from a set piece and one from a counterattack, but it’s ok, we didn’t lose, it’s the most important thing [thing] and we have the next game at home.
“We know they can score, but we know we can always come back. We never give up and that’s a good team mentality.
“We will do this every time. It’s always better to lead, but if we’re not leading, we have to come back.”
No penalty for cheering against cherries
Arsenal have escaped punishment for their wild celebrations against Bournemouth.
Chaos erupted in the Emirates last Saturday when Reiss Nelson scored a 98th-minute winner to keep the Gunners’ lead at the top of the Premier League table.
Cheering substitutes flocked to the pitch to celebrate the potentially season-defining goal and the wild scenes were reported by referee Chris Kavanagh.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta’s celebration was also mentioned in Kavanagh’s report.
An FA inquiry quickly followed but will not result in a punishment.
It was thought a fine could be imminent due to the FA’s rules on the conduct of players and staff.
Nuno ‘very unlikely to play for Arsenal again’
Nuno Tavares is tipped for a permanent departure when the Arsenal left-back returns to Marseille from his loan spell in the summer.
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Newcastle target Kieran Tierney will be well ahead of the 23-year-old Portuguese, according to Mikel Arteta.
And journalist Ben Jacobs told TEAMtalk: “As for Tavares, I think it’s very unlikely that he’ll play for Arsenal again.
“It’s just a matter of position. Zinchenko, Tierney, is still there at the moment, Tomiyasu too.
“When I look at Tavares I don’t really see him as an Arsenal left-back.
“The interesting thing about Marseille now that he’s on loan is that he’s scoring goals.
“Arsenal’s concern, I think, is those defensive qualities, while in Marseille he shows he can be very enterprising from an attacking point of view.”
It’s just not Wright
Ian Wright has withdrawn from Match of the Day after the BBC decided to take Gary Lineker off the air.
The England and Arsenal legend tweeted: “Everyone knows what Match of the Day means to me but I’ve told the BBC I won’t be doing it tomorrow. Solidarity.”
The pundit made the decision shortly after the BBC pulled Lineker from presenting this weekend’s Premier League highlights programme.
In a major about-face, the network announced that Lineker would be suspended from his presenting duties, after previously saying he would not face disciplinary action.
They added that the suspension will remain in place pending an agreement on his social media use.
Wright is a regular pundit on the show alongside Newcastle and England icon Alan Shearer.
It comes after Mr Lineker sparked a huge backlash this week when he took to Twitter to attack the Illegal Migration Act, which bans migrants arriving on small boats from settling in Britain.
Sam stunned as City sell Gab & Zinchenko to Arsenal
Sam Allardyce can’t believe Manchester City sold Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal last summer.
He told the Tippy Tappy podcast: “However, he (Guardiola) will get a stick for selling those players to Arsenal if they win the league.
“All the fans are going to look and say, ‘Look what it took us,’ if they don’t win the league it’s going to be right under the price I think.
“It’s his mate isn’t it, he was with him for years and helped him get the job at Arsenal and now he’s given him two top-flight players.”
‘Balogun could cost £17.5m’
A modest price for Arsenal frontman Folarin Balogun has sparked the interest of a European giant, while a journalist claims Newcastle could still take him north.
Journalist Steve Kay recently reported that Newcastle are evaluating Balogun. In his words, “the Magpies are considering making an offer in the next transfer window”.
How much Balogun could cost if Arsenal gave it the green light was not specified. However, a new report from Italy has shed some light in that direction, putting AC Milan in the game.
Gazzetta dello Sport report Arsenal’s current valuation of Balogun is a somewhat modest £17.5m-22m.