'Not an Arsenal thing' - Steve McManaman and Martin Keown defend Gunners over use of 'dark arts'

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Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has defended his old club over the use of "dark arts", saying he wants to see more of it from The Gunners, while fellow TNT Sports pundit Steve McManaman has argued that Mikel Arteta's team are "too good to get involved" in the ugly side of the game. However, both agreed that it "is not an Arsenal thing" and most clubs are guilty of it.

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TNT Sports expert Steve McManaman and Martin Keown have defended Arsenal over their use of the "dark arts", which they have come under fire for this week.

Arsenal beat Brighton & Hove Albion in midweek to extend their advantage at the top of the Premier League to seven points.

It led to Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler accusing Arsenal of wasting time, picking out David Raya as an example, claiming he went down three times during the game.

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"I didn't see three times," Keown argued on TNT Sports ahead of Arsenal's Emirates FA Cup clash against Mansfield Town.

"I was at the game, I saw him go down once, and maybe there's a point there, but we all know that.

"The goalkeeper goes down when he's not affected and that will change. But we can't change it halfway through the season just because Arsenal are doing it."

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Arsenal have scored the joint-highest number of goals in the Premier League alongside Manchester City on 59.

Keown said that he feels the criticism of Arsenal's style of play is over the top, and said he would like to see more of it from his former side.

Asked whether he enjoys watching Arsenal, Keown said: "Yeah, I think they need to be more professional in that way. I'd like to see them do it when they were 2-1 up against Wolves [which ended in a 2-2 draw].

"In our day, [Thierry] Henry would be running to the corner flag. It didn't happen often, but he'd put his foot on the ball. You have to be professional. You've got to manage those minutes well.

"They've learned that now, and if that is another facet of how you win it, then you have to do it if you want to be winners."

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He added: "I think it's been underlined and made too much of. There was a statistic the other night going into the [Brighton] game that Arsenal, since Christmas, have scored more goals than any other Premier League team from open play. But if you listen to the noise, you'd think every other goal was from some sort of set-piece."

McManaman gave his thoughts and said that The Gunners are "too good to get involved" in the ugly side of the game.

"The narrative is just that they do it a lot," he said.

"I go back to watching Diego Simeone sides at Atletico Madrid, the dark arts. I didn't enjoy watching them, and I just think, personally, Arsenal are just too good to get involved in this.

"I don't think they need to waste time, they don't need to fall over. I just think they're much, much better than that."

He continued: "This is not an Arsenal thing, I think it's happened too much across the Premier League this year.

"Across the Premier League, I don't think the quality has been there at all this year, I think it's dropped dramatically.

"We'll have stats saying there have been more goals, but visually, I'm enjoying it less because of this, and it's not just Arsenal. A lot of other teams are play-acting, wasting time, slowing the game down."

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