Martin Keown begs Sky Sports not to put commentator on Arsenal games ever again over ‘frightening bias’
MARTIN KEOWN has slammed Sky Sports commentators for their “frightening” bias during coverage of Arsenal’s match with Brighton.
Speaking to talkSPORT, the Arsenal legend took aim at Martin Tyler and Gary Neville.
The 56-year-old claimed “it hurts” Tyler to see Arsenal win a game of football, while he suggested Neville “has a problem”.
Keown told Jim White and Simon Jordan: “How biased is the Sky Sports commentary team? It is frightening.
“Martin Tyler is a great professional, but he cannot hide that it hurts him that Arsenal might win a game of football.
“Honestly, we know Neville has a problem, he is almost apologising.
“‘Have I lost my mind? We should be sending [Gabriel] Martinelli off’? Not at all, you go with your instinct.
“So, there we are, it is a poke in the eye to a commentator. I should be more respectful, Martin is a great commentator, but please Sky, don’t put him on the Arsenal games anymore. It is a really hard listen.
“We talked about it off air and certain people were pushing me to say it. I didn’t really want to come here with that.”
Host White hit back by saying: “Nobody pushed you to say it.”
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With Jordan, adding: “You lassoed me out there asking about Martin Tyler and Gary Neville.”
Keown responded: “Tell me then, get the Arsenal fans as they’ve got to listen to it. There’s only 60,000 in the stadium but there’s millions of us at home.”
Asked to say certainly whether he believed Neville to be anti-Arsenal, Keown declared: “Yes I do, let’s get it out there.”
Despite having his doubters for much of the season, Neville was insistent in his belief Arsenal would not win the title – providing seven reasons why it all went so wrong for them during the run-in.
And following the 3-0 defeat to Brighton, which marks a run which has seen Arsenal win just two of their last seven league games, Manchester City are now on course to wrap up the title next week.
The Gunners know a loss at Nottingham Forest will see the title go to City, while City can secure the title regardless of the Gunners’ result with a win against Chelsea.
A horror stat has also emerged relating to the North Londoners title plight, with Mikel Arteta‘s side on top for 93 per cent of the season.
This is a new record, eclipsing Arsenal’s own record from the 2002/03 season when they were top for 71 per cent of the campaign before losing out to Manchester United.