Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are having a wonderful season and could end up beating Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to the Premier League title this season.
Arsenal are at the top of the Premier League table now with 71 points from 31 matches, level on points with second-placed Liverpool.
Manchester City, who have won the league title for the past three seasons, are now third with 70 points from 31 games.
Arsenal have a superior goal difference, and that could be a major advantage for the North London club.
Mikel Arteta’s side beat Brighton and Hove Albion 3-0 away from home in the Premier League this past Saturday.
It was a pretty comfortable win for Arsenal, who scored one goal in the first half and found the back of the net twice in the second period.
Ben White started for Arsenal against his former club Brighton and Hove Albion. White is a centre-back by trade, but the ex-Leeds United loanee is playing as a right-back this season.
The £50 million (Sky Sports) English defender had a good game, but there was one particular incident that was not great to watch.
Early in the second half, just as Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya was about to take a goal kick, White went down to the ground holding his chin after an apparent clash with Brighton’s Pervis Estupinan. There was nothing there.
Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Gary Lineker and Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer have slammed White for his antics.
Arsenal defender branded ‘embarrassing’
Lineker said about White on The Rest is Football podcast: “I think we should mention the Ben White incident.”
Shearer responded: “Yes, we should. What a joke that was!”
Lineker said: “I mean, what I don’t understand, you know, playacting, I don’t like, I never have, I don’t get it, I don’t know why players do it, particularly now when you have got so many cameras and you have got VAR that are there anyway that would look at if you are kind of made somebody get a red card.
“Do you not think to yourself, ‘That is a bit embarrassing doing that’. Ben White is not the only one, lots of players do it. Different times we have seen it happen, but I just think, why would you bring that on yourself. You would just look like a prat.”
Shearer noted: “It was embarrassing, it was very, very embarrassing.”
Lineker added: “He is a good player, though, you know.”
Ben White a big player for Arsenal
In my opinion, Ben White is one of the best and most important players for Arsenal.
White has been brilliant at right-back, and I think that he has been a big reason why the North London club have been so good defensively.
Arsenal have conceded only 24 goals in 31 Premier League matches this season. White, 26, has scored two goals and given four assists in 28 starts and two substitute appearances in the league this campaign.
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