‘I know my players’ – Arteta hits back at Maupay after ‘humility’ jibe at Gunners stars

Mikel Arteta has hit back at Neal Maupay’s claim that Arsenal’s players need to learn humility following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Brighton.

Maupay infuriated the visitors when he clashed with Bernd Leno during the first half at the Amex Stadium, a clash that resulted with the Gunners keeper being stretched off with a serious knee injury.

The Seagulls frontman then rubbed salt into Arsenal’s wounds when he scored an injury-time winner to condemn Arteta’s side to a second defeat in three days and all but ended their hopes of securing Champions League football next season.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang angrily pointed his finger at Maupay moments after the goal and then a scuffle broke out following the final whistle, with Matteo Guendouzi grabbing the striker by the throat before being dragged off the pitch.

Speaking after the game, Maupay told the BBC : “Some of their [Arsenal] players need to learn what is humility – especially one of them.” In a separate interview he said Arsenal “got what they deserved” followng the 2-1 loss.

But Arteta, who refused to blame the Brighton forward for Leno’s injury, was quick to hit back at those claims.

“He can say whatever he wants,” said Arsenal’s head coach. “I know my players and one aspect that they do not miss for sure is humility.”

Speaking about the incident which resulted in Leno’s injury, Arteta added: “I believe that no player has an intention to hurt anybody and I believe in this case it’s exactly the same. It was unfortunate. 

“Benrd’s injury doesn’t look good, we have to assess it tomorrow to know what’s happening.

“We don’t know [if it’s a cruciate injury], he is still in some pain. We will have to wait until tomorrow at least to see how bad the damage is.”

Arteta will now be without at least eight senior players for Thursday night’s trip to Southampton, with Leno joining Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira, Pablo Mari, Cedric Soares, Sokratis and Calum Chambers in the treatment room.

David Luiz is suspended following his sending off against Manchester City and when asked if he feared a possible ban for Guendouzi due to his spat with Maupay, Arteta said: “I don’t know. I haven’t seen the actions. 

“I have seen a lot of players just talking and getting together, but I didn’t know what happened.

“There is frustration at the end because we threw the game away. That is probably a reaction that can happen. But I always believe a player has no intention to get somebody else injured.”