Rio Ferdinand: Here's why Gary Neville was wrong for calling Arsenal star disrespectful
Rio Ferdinand has hit out at Gary Neville after his former Manchester United team-mate accused Arsenal players of being “disrespectful” against Manchester City.
Mikel Arteta’s side were visibly amped up for Sunday’s Premier League clash with City, which saw the Gunners humiliate their rivals 5-1. Tensions between the two sides, which have been bubbling for several seasons, were immediately visible as Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes celebrated in Erling Haaland’s face after Martin Odegaard gave the hosts the lead two minutes in.
There were various other back-and-forths between the pair, while 18-year-old Gunners left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly also appeared to mock Haaland by imitating his celebration after netting their third goal, having been goaded by the Norwegian during their last encounter earlier this season.
But despite the fiery nature of the clash making for a throwback spectacle, United legend Neville took issue with some of the Arsenal players’ behaviour on the pitch. The Sky Sports commentator, who was involved in many a heated fixture with Arsenal in his own playing days, labelled Gabriel’s actions in particular “disrespectful”.
Yet his former Red Devils team-mate Ferdinand believes such actions are all part of what makes the Premier League so exciting. He pointed at Neville’s own actions in the past while praising youngster Lewis-Skelly for showing the confidence to take a dig at City’s star player.
He said on Rio Ferdinand presents: “One of the best things to come out of the game was Myles Lewis-Skelly. It was just nice to see a bit of needle in the game. I saw Gary Neville saying it’s disrespectful, what he did with his celebration or Gabriel did in front of Haaland’s face and stuff like that.
“Some of