Jamie Carragher has accused Arsenal of bending the rules amid accusations that Mikel Arteta ’s team have been guilty of employing dark arts. The Gunners came within a whisker of achieving an astonishing victory against Manchester City at the weekend, having been forced to play for nearly an hour with 10 men following the controversial dismissal of Leandro Trossard. Ultimately, John Stones’ late, late goal earned a point for the champions but Arsenal will feel their title chances have been enhanced following a display of gritty resilience and defiance.
Rather than concentrate on the finer points of Arsenal’s defending, Arteta’s side have faced a tidal wave of criticism from pundits and fans alike who have accused them of achieving a positive result by any means possible. Statistics released earlier this week revealed that Arsenal are indeed the Premier League’s biggest time wasters so far this season and Carragher believes, in a Jose Mourinho-esque fashion, they are exploring a loophole in a rule that forces the referee to stop a game should a goalkeeper go down with an injury. ‘When I mention the Morurinho thing, he was always ahead of the game in terms of trying to gain an advantage somewhere,’ Carragher told The Overlap.
‘There’s one thing I do notice Arsenal doing more than anyone. I don’t know if the stats back me up I think the goalkeeper goes down a lot more than other goalkeepers in tense situations. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and .
