Richard Keys' Raheem Sterling diving slur proved to be same gibberish as Arsene Wenger claim

From the hundreds of goal contributions to dozens of individual and team prizes and generally being an outstanding person with his inspiring actions in pursuit of racial equality and social mobility, there are plenty of reasons to really like Manchester City hero Raheem Sterling.

And now he’s irritated Richard Keys.

Spectacular. Commission the statue, Khaldoon!

Of course, if Sterling was to join Vincent Kompany and David Silva in posterity outside the Etihad Stadium, a few wags of Keys’ ilk might suggest the ‘iconic’ pose would feature the England winger on his way to ground, turning his head to appeal to the referee.

Riyad Mahrez broke the deadlock in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Brentford from the penalty spot after Sterling was unceremoniously brought down by Bees defender Mads Roerslev.

Sterling has now won 23 Premier League penalties - more than any other player in the history of the competition.

For some, this is an uneasy and slightly dubious record to hold and invites accusations of being a diver.

"Raheem Sterling has now ‘won’ 26 penalties during his PL career - plus a few in an England jersey,” Keys tweeted.

“That’s more than any other player during the same period. Draw your own conclusions. I hope officials do soon.”

A couple of things to start with. Raheem is clearly so good at winning penalties that Keys has awarded him three extra. It’s certainly unfortunate when a journalist of such palpable self-regard gets a basic fact wrong.

Then there’s, “Draw your own conclusions. I hope officials do soon.” Ohhhh, please Richard, tell us what you think! Impart your knowledge! Don’t leave the proles hanging.

Before we stray too far from the task at hand and disappear down a rabbit hole of picking apart Keysisms, officials