Tony Adams ‘really disappointed’ with one Arsenal star in Man City romp

Arsenal produced an impressive performance in a 5-1 thrashing of Manchester City on Sunday, but club legend Tony Adams was left disappointed with one Gunners star.

It was a thrilling afternoon at the Emirates as the home side went ahead inside two minutes through Martin Odegaard, with the scoreline remaining 1-0 until Erling Haaland equalised on 55 minutes.

The Gunners were unfazed, going back ahead through Thomas Partey almost immediately, before Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri rounded off an amazing day for the north Londoners.

Adams was delighted, but the Haaland goal was lingering in his mind and the fact the Norwegian beat William Saliba in the air to head home.

Gabriel had been physically battling with Haaland for much of the game, which Adams loved, but was equally as frustrated with seeing Saliba caught out behind Haaland for the goal.

‘Fantastic. And likewise I was really disappointed with Saliba the way that he marked him,’ the former Arsenal defender told Premier League Productions as he contrasted Gabriel and Saliba.

‘Ball in play, he got too tight with the guy, he should have got in front of him, he’ll be kicking himself in there and we’ve got to learn from that.’

There is an ongoing spat between Gabriel and Haaland, which started when the Man City star chucked the ball at the Arsenal man while celebrating a goal during the 2-2 draw in September.

The Gunners defender got his revenge on Sunday, celebrating in Haaland’s face when Odegaard opened the scoring.

Speaking on the incident, Adams said: ‘To be honest with you I’d rather Gabriel lifted a trophy and then phoned him up and said, “by the way we’ve just won the league,” but that’s on its way.

‘But Gabriel I love that, that was my game.’

The legendary Arsenal captain had nothing but praise for 18-year-old Lewis-Skelly, who scored his first goal for the club on another impressive performance from the teenager.

The 58-year-old loves the youngsters attacking intent from full-back, which sees him cut inside, as he did when he curled in his goal.

Adams is not so sure the full-backs he played with – Nigel Winterburn and Lee Dixon – would have been any good at it.

‘It’s great to see the kids coming on and playing so well,’ he said. ‘Myles has invented this new position, we used to have inside forwards and now we’ve got inside defenders now. Inside left-back!

‘Can you imagine Nigel or Dicko? Get out of there! Phenomenal, what a kid, what a prospect.’