Garth Crooks left furious with Mikel Arteta after Arsenal beat Fulham

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Garth Crooks has told BBC Sport that he was furious with Mikel Arteta during Arsenal’s win over Fulham after he threw the ball away in the final minutes of the game.

The Gunners are, rightfully, receiving plaudits from many directions after a stunning start to the season. And they proved a further point on Saturday when they faced Marco Silva’s side.

Aleksandar Mitrovic capitalised on a Gabriel mistake to put the visitors ahead. But Arsenal fought their way back, with Gabriel scoring the winner late on.

It was the kind of performance that hinted that the mentality at the Emirates has now changed. They are now early contenders to play a role in the title race this year.

However, that has not prevented Arteta from receiving some criticism. In fact, Crooks has issued an incredibly strong verdict on the Arsenal boss following the final stages of the win over Fulham.

“The headline after Saturday’s win was ‘How Arteta is turning Arsenal into contenders’. My only problem with that statement is I didn’t like the way the Arsenal manager went about it against Fulham,” he told BBC Sport.

“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.”

Crooks furious with Mikel Arteta

It would be no surprise if Arteta made the conscious decision to try and be a little more abrasive. Arsenal do not have the quality across the board just yet to compete with the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool.

They are potentially on their way. But Arteta is not going to turn his back on anything that may result in a marginal gain.

And making Arsenal feel like it is us against everyone else is going to help the Gunners. They have shown that when their back is against the wall, they are capable of proving their doubters wrong.

Winding up opponents and the outside world is only going to help with that. So Arteta may struggle to stop himself laughing at what Crooks has now said about his conduct.