Declan Rice comments on Arsenal mocking Erling Haaland as Mikel Arteta hails 'brave' duo

Erling Haaland was humbled by Arsenal’s trolls as Mikel Arteta hailed the Gunners’ “special” bunch of fives.

City talisman Haaland was singled out for retribution after he told the Arsenal boss to “stay humble, eh?” following the stormy 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture last September.

In an astonishing romp at the Emirates, 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly - whose red card at Wolves eight days earlier was rescinded - mimicked Haaland’s yoga celebration after scoring his first senior goal. The Norwegian, who growled “Who the f***are you?’ at Lewis-Skelly in the Etihad war zone, had earlier run the gauntlet of Gunners defender Gabriel screaming in his face when Martin Odegaard opened the scoring after just 103 seconds.

Haaland had thrown the ball at the back of Gabriel’s head after City’s last-gasp equaliser five months ago. And the final insult was Arsenal ’s DJ blaring out Kendrick Lamar’s hit Humble on the final whistle as home fans taunted City messiah Pep Guardiola with chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning.”

Haaland’s father Alfie hit back on social media, posting a picture of Gunners players celebrating with Lewis-Skelly and sneering: “This team that wins everything. Ehhhh, not.”

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice said of Lewis-Skelly’s brilliant goal and yoga meditation: “It’s football antics. Things happen on the pitch. He celebrated, it’s obviously the Haaland celebration. I know he has respect for him, the whole team has big respect for him because of what he’s done, he’s a big player.”

Arteta, clearly not wanting to stoke the fire of an increasingly bitter rivalry with City, said: "It is a great day for us, especially with the necessity that we had to win the game. The manner we did it makes it a special day. We had to be brave and it paid off.”

Image: Getty Images) Getty Images)

The crowning glory of Arsenal’s performance was 17-year-old substitute Ethan Nwaneri’s seventh goal of the season in stoppage time, and Arteta was thrilled by his teenage kicks.

He added: “They play with a lot of personality, they are really brave, they have the courage, and they understand what we want. They play to make things happen and the players believe in them - and that is a big thing.”

While Arsenal moved back to within six points of Premier League leaders Liverpool, City’s latest collapse left Guardiola dumbfounded. He claimed he had not seen Arsenal’s provocative celebrations, asking: ”Did they? That’s good. Did you like my answer?”

But after scrambling into the Champions League play-off round, City are now a massive 15 points off the pace in the title race. And after shipping four goals in the second half, Guardiola admitted: "It's happened all season, we are giving away too many things, we are aware this cannot happen, but it happened

"You have to overcome [it], you cannot lose the control, you cannot finish in the way we played. I only regret the last 15-20 minutes. We forgot to do what we should do.”

City, who have won the last four titles in a row, last night drifted to a massive 150-1 with bookies to make it five on the bounce.

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