Wayne Rooney has defended Arsenal over the ‘unfair’ criticism they’ve received while they bid to win the Premier League.
Despite moving seven points clear at the highest of the Premier League, Arsenal have attracted criticism from some pundits and fans.
Last week former Premier League manager Alan Pardew claimed Arsenal’s likely title win would ‘include an asterisk’ given their form of play.
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, meanwhile, accused Arsenal of ‘making their very own rules’ and claimed Mikel Arteta’s side weren’t even ‘attempting to play football’ during their 1-0 win on the Amex Stadium.
But former Manchester United and England captain Rooney cannot understand the criticism of Arsenal and insists he ‘enjoys’ watching the Gunners.
Speaking on his BBC podcast, Rooney said: ‘I’ve heard a variety of people talking about Arsenal and the way in which they’re playing but I feel they’ve been sensible.
‘Football is played in alternative ways. Man City have had spells after they were absolutely incredible, the identical for my Man United team.
Your football fix
Metro‘s Head of Sport James Goldman delivers punchy evaluation, transfer talk and his tackle the week’s biggest stories direct to your inbox every week.
Join here, it’s an open goal.
‘But Arsenal have gotten a superb mix, they’ve got different players who rating goals, they’re hard to play against, they keep clean sheets. I actually enjoy watching them play.
‘The set-pieces are a part of football – why would you not use it? They put bodies within the box, if teams aren’t clever enough or haven’t got the players to cope with it, why wouldn’t Arsenal proceed to try this?
‘I can be doing it much more if I used to be Mikel Arteta. It’s a part of the sport and I like it – they don’t need to change anything.
Criticism of Arsenal
ALAN PARDEW
‘Once I’m taking a look at them with my football manager’s head on, they’re so skilled,’ Pardew said on talkSPORT. ‘They do every little bit of gamesmanship to get it over the road.
‘But really and truly, Brighton, although they’ve definitely upped the tempo and looked higher second half, they’ve probably not hurt Arsenal.
‘And for the time being it looks like Arsenal are going to see it through. There’ll be an asterisk next to their name since you’ve only got to take a look at them really in these form of performances and say it’s only a functional display.
‘It’s an expert, functional display. They’re good, they’re strong, they’re powerful. But there may be nothing beautiful about them. That’s the reality.’
FABIAN HURZELER
‘I won’t ever be the type of manager who tries to win in that way,’ Hurzeler said after Brighton’s defeat to Arsenal.
‘If I ask everyone within the room, did he really enjoy this game? I’m sure perhaps one raises his arm because he’s a giant Arsenal fan.
‘Where will this go in the longer term? Is that this what the supporters are paying for?’
‘They perhaps haven’t scored as many goals from open play as they would love but they’ve made up for it in other ways.
‘The last league title we won, we wasn’t great as a team, but no person is talking about that now. I don’t think Arsenal have been as bad as persons are saying, I actually don’t.
‘I’m not saying this because I like Arsenal, I’m saying this because I feel the criticism they’re received could be very unfair.’
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an internet
browser that
supports HTML5
video
While Rooney leaped to the defence of Arsenal and Arteta, he insisted they will not be home and hosed within the Premier League title race.
The Gunners lead second-placed Manchester City by seven points but Pep Guardiola’s side do have a game in hand and a house match against Arsenal to shut the gap.
‘I don’t think the Premier League is out of reach for Man City yet,’ Rooney added. ‘They’re well throughout the title race.’
Arsenal produced one other somewhat underwhelming performance on Saturday, beating League One strugglers Mansfield Town 2-1 within the FA Cup.
The Gunners’ next Premier League fixture is a house match against Everton on Saturday. A win would put the Gunners ten points clear ahead of Manchester City’s game against West Ham later within the day.
Before that Arsenal will look to keep up their incredible Champions League momentum after they travel to Germany on Wednesday to face Bayer Leverkusen in the primary leg of their last-16 tie.
Arteta’s side finished a flawless group stage campaign with eight wins from eight and a goal difference of plus 19.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the newest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
MORE: Micah Richards backs Premier League club to win Champions League
MORE: ‘It was crazy!’ – Chelsea questioned for leaving out £38m ‘machine’
MORE: Arsenal given fresh hope of signing Champions League winner