Wayne Rooney calls out ‘nervous’ Martin Keown over Arsenal Premier League title claim

Wayne Rooney has hit out at ex-Arsenal defender Martin Keown over comments he made on talkSPORT in the aftermath of Manchester City’s 2-1 Premier League victory over Liverpool at Anfield

Wayne Rooney has claimed Arsenal fans and ex-players – namely Martin Keown – risk derailing the Gunners’ Premier League title bid.

The Gunners can move seven points clear of Manchester City tonight with victory over Wolves at Molineux.

While Rooney insists boss Mikel Arteta is handling the pressure admirably, he feels supporters and pundits are generating unnecessary noise that could impact the team.

Rooney said on The Overlap: “For me, what’s happening is the Arsenal fans and the ex-players coming out are actually killing them.

“They should stay silent and let everyone else talk. I heard Martin Keown on talkSPORT saying having a six-point lead is better than nine. What are you talking about?!

“That’s an experienced [former] player who’s getting nervous. I actually think Mikel Arteta is handling it brilliantly with the way he’s speaking with the media. It’s other people connected to the club who are actually having more of an effect.”

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Speaking after Manchester City’s dramatic comeback victory at Liverpool, Keown remarkably claimed the result could actually benefit Arsenal.

He said before the Gunners later drew at Brentford: “I was thinking about the game the other day and you know if Arsenal’s lead goes to nine points the narrative will be that their champions.

“I actually thought to myself, maybe it’s better if Man City win this game just to keep you real. I think six points instead of nine is healthier because the narrative of Arsenal not being strong enough.

“If they go nine points clear, it’s theirs to lose again and we get all that propaganda to try and keep this story alive.”

Declan Rice urged Arsenal to keep their cool and block out the noise after they dropped two points at the Gtech Community Stadium.

The £105million midfield leader said: “The small details, the basics. This is a rollercoaster of a season. You can’t be naive to think this is going to be easy.

“We are playing against the best teams week in, week out. We have to keep pushing and believing in ourselves, controlling the controllable.

“We have to block out the outside noise. We have done that really well. People are going to talk up the title race and Arsenal but we have a really calm group.

“I’m not naive to think Brentford are a pushover. They are one of the best teams in the league and their recent form shows that. It’s a point gained in our journey but we wanted to win the game.”

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