Mikel Arteta has admitted that he was shocked to see Dani Ceballos and Eddie Nketiah scuffle before the Fulham game, according to reports in Metro.
The North London club were dominant against Fulham and emerged 3-0 winners with goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Gabriel. Apart from the win, something that happened prior to the game also gained a lot of attention.
During the warm-up, both Nketiah and Ceballos squared up to each other and very nearly came to blows. They had to be separated by teammates and this was picked by the BT Sport cameras.
When asked about the incident after the Fulham game, Arteta refused to comment on it, claiming that he hasn’t seen the incident. But now, the Spaniard has broken his silence on the incident. Speaking ahead of the West Ham game, Arteta said(as per Metro):
“Well, I was surprised first of all because it isn’t a common thing to see at the start. To be fair, I didn’t like too much that image in public, but then I understood what happened and I understood how much both of them wanted to play and their level of frustration they were managing.
“I really liked the way things were resolved, though. First of all between them personally, and then publicly with that picture. It was the end of the story and now we can learn from that and move on.”
Ceballos and Nketiah were both on the bench but came on and helped the Emirates club control the game to win their first Premier League game of the season. As the season goes on, both will have a prominent role to play.
These sort of minor scuffles happen from time to time and if anything this shows that the players are being passionate. It would have been a tense moment for the fans to see their players scuffle but they would be happy that they made up after the game without showing any hard feelings.
Ceballos who came back from Real Madrid for another season on loan will most likely replace Mohamed Elneny on Saturday. Nketiah might not get the start but he will be looking to make an impact from the bench. Arteta will be hoping that his team can continue their good form and keep their winning run going.
