Mikel Arteta issues bitter praise for Bruno Fernandes after Declan Rice’s surprise Man United claim

Mikel Arteta issues bitter praise for Bruno Fernandes after Declan Rice’s surprise Man United claim

Arsenal Boss Mikel Arteta seemed to issue some bitter praise for Bruno Fernandes after Manchester United and Arsenal faced off at Old Trafford on the weekend.

Manchester United and Arsenal played out a 1-1 draw in their Premier League encounter, with Bruno Fernandes’ superb free-kick opener being canceled out by Declan Rice’s equaliser.

United were defensively solid in the first half, restricting Arsenal to few opportunities with a well-structured setup.

Just before half-time, Fernandes produced a moment of brilliance with a stunning free-kick to hand United a deserved lead.

In the second half, the Reds improved in possession but left too much space for Declan Rice, who seized the opportunity to level the score.

United looked the more likely to find a winner, creating several good chances, but the match ended in a stalemate and the spoils were shared.

Arteta issues bitter praise for Fernandes
The result has essentially ruined Arsenal’s title hopes if they were not over already, with there now being a 15-point gap between them and Liverpool.

Mikel Arteta was not best-pleased and was asked about Fernandes’ free-kick goal after the game, with claims that the United captain moved the ball backwards beforehand.

That extra space helped the 30-year-old to guide his free-kick over the wall and into the back of the net, to which Arteta begrudgingly said Fernandes was “more clever” than the referee.

“They just mentioned that if Bruno is on that, football is for smart street players and if he’s done that and capitalised on that, he was more clever than us and the referee,” Arteta said.

Asked if Fernandes should have been allowed to do that, Arteta said: “I don’t know, but he’s done it, it was a goal, so they took advantage of that. Football is for clever people.”

The goal was also a topic of concern for Declan Rice, who said that he felt the free-kick was at a low-height during play.

“I’ve not seen the goal back. It felt like the ball flew over us at a low height. It [the wall for the free-kick] did feel far back. Anthony [Taylor] is the ref, he makes that decision,” he told Sky.
Ironically, it hasn’t been mentioned that the same occurred when Martin Odegaard lined up a free-kick on the edge of United’s box after Myles Lewis-Skelly dived to win the decision.

That is because Odegaard still hit his effort straight into the wall.

Anthony Taylor’s performance was extremely poor but the free-kick situation was nowhere near the top of the list in terms of his mistakes.