Gary Neville called out over ‘anti-Arsenal’ bias on commentary with complaints Gunners are being ‘gaslit’

As Arsenal inch closer towards the Premier League title, Gary Neville underlined the importance of blocking the outside noise.

That is something easier said than done, especially when the Manchester United legend stands accused of creating that exact noise.

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Neville was on commentary duty during Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Chelsea on Sunday for Sky Sports, a result that kept the Gunners’ five-point buffer at the top of the Premier League intact.

However, not everyone was a fan of his work behind the microphone.

Speaking on the latest episode of Inside Gooners, Arsenal broadcaster Harry Symeou named two examples of Neville’s commentary that proved his ‘bias’ against the north London outfit.

Why Neville is the architect of the ‘outside noise’ issue

“This is the danger, people talk about the outside noise,” Symeou said.

“The outside noise is coming from every single direction.

“I heard Gary Neville talking about the outside noise on Sky, he’s the biggest culprit in terms of creating that noise.

“The second goal went in from [Jurrien] Timber, and before Timber’s even made his way to the corner flag to celebrate, he goes, ‘I think there’s a foul on the keeper’.

“Then when Joao Pedro was about a mile offside at the end of the game, before the replay, he’s gone, ‘I don’t even know if he’s offside.’

“It’s the desperation to get ahead of the action to make it seem you know more. On top of that, it’s his bias coming through.”

It’s not the first time Neville has been accused of holding an anti-Arsenal stance.

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Fans felt Neville of being a little too happy when Manchester City beat Liverpool with a stoppage-time goal in February to remain in touching distance of Arsenal.

However, the 51-year-old later clapped back and felt the criticism of his commentary stemmed from Arsenal supporters’ ‘paranoia’ over potentially blowing yet another title race.

Groves questions media’s lack of balance towards Arsenal

Despite Neville also stating he believed the Gunners will end their Premier League title drought, it didn’t stop ex-Arsenal winger Perry Groves from claiming there’s somewhat of a desperation for City to pip them to the post.

“We get accused of persecution complex, you think that everyone is against you,” Groves said.

“The different narratives are, Man City go to Leeds and beat them 1-0. They grind it out, they show professionalism, that’s what you do to win the title.

“We beat Chelsea, Arsenal got a little bit lucky, ‘Set Piece FC’. How come they ground it out against a team in the bottom six, even though it’s a difficult place to go, and we beat them 4-0 there and swat them aside. You’ve got to be balanced.

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“But because we are the Arsenal, everybody wants us not to win one of the big ones, because then the assessment will be, ‘You ain’t got the mettle, you’ve bottled it again.’

“Even yesterday, we all said Chelsea were the better team in general play and created the better chances. But I said, ‘I don’t care’, because we had to find a way.

“You could see Mikel Arteta when he shook Liam Rosenior’s hand. He knew that was a huge result. He knew that was relief because what he saw with his eyes was, we played not as well as we’d have liked to have played but now we’ve got over that. Chelsea have only lost three games since Liam Rosenior has been in charge and they’ve all been against us.”

Aside from the criticism of scoring several goals via set pieces, some sections of the media and rival supporters have taken aim at Arsenal regarding their celebrations.

Why Arsenal fans should not rein in their celebrations

The Gunners have never been afraid to express their joy when scoring goals or winning matches, but it hasn’t always been to everyone’s taste.

Although Arsenal broadcaster Deluded Gooner acknowledged supporters can get carried away at times, he felt the fanbase has been ‘gaslit’ regarding their celebrations.

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“We go back a previous week when Manchester City beat Newcastle and we won the north London derby,” he said.

“We’re not allowed to celebrate, if we celebrate we show too much emotion.

“I know Arsenal fans can be a bit over the top, but Arsenal fans are being gaslit. It’s that simple and I’m not having anything other than that.

“We just have to accept it and deal with the outside noise. You go back to when we lost to Brentford in their first game in the Premier League. The boys didn’t listen to the noise then, why would you listen to the noise now?”

Arsenal will hope to celebrate moving another victory closer to the Premier League title on Wednesday as they travel to Brighton.

Meanwhile, City play host to Nottingham Forest on the same evening.

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