Arteta has been told he is dragging Arsenal ‘through the dirt’

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Mikel Arteta has been told by Richard Keys that he is dragging Arsenal ‘through the dirt’ with his theatrics on the sidelines.

The Spaniard can be often seen cutting an animated figure on the touchline, when decisions go against the Gunners.

In the midweek 0-0 draw with Newcastle United, the Arsenal manager was particularly furious with a number of refereeing decisions that went against the North Londoners.

Chris Sutton has already labelled Arteta as a ‘clown’ in reference to his ’embarrassing’ behaviour at the Emirates Stadium this week, as covered by HITC Sport.

And yesterday, Jason Burt of The Telegraph has criticised the Arsenal boss for the same actions, too.

Keys has long been a detractor of Arteta, mainly for venturing outside his technical area, and the BeIN Sport presenter has reignited his call for the FA Cup to intervene and put a leash on him.

Here’s what he tweeted today:

The point of Burt’s piece was that Arteta’s theatrics reveal his inexperience which, by the same token, should provide context behind his touchline antics.

This is someone with three years of senior managerial experience and someone whose side are fighting to win the Premier League title.

In management terms, 40-year-old Arteta is a youngster and perhaps in time he will look back on his behaviour with the same negative judgement as Keys, Sutton and Burt.

But for now, he just desperately wants his Arsenal side to pick up points en route to winning the Premier League title and given his inexperience, well his antics are understandable, given the context.