Gary Neville revels in Arsenal fans' meltdown on 'over-celebrating' row

Gary Neville has poked fun back at Arsenal fans who slammed him for his criticism of Oleksandr Zinchenko after the Gunners' title challenge imploded.

Their 3-0 defeat to Brighton on Sunday coupled with Man City's win over Everton by the same scoreline meant Pep Guardiola's side went four points clear with a game in hand and they could now win the league this weekend.

When dissecting what went wrong for Mikel Arteta's side, Neville accused Arsenal of 'over-celebrating' wins and claimed their players were guilty of becoming 'too emotional' as they battled with City.

The Sky Sports pundit used the viral social media clip of Oleksandr Zinchenko tooting his car horn and shouting 'come on' as he drove past a group of celebrating Arsenal fans following their 4-1 win over Crystal Palace in March as an example.

At that point, the Gunners sat eight points clear of City at the top of the table but a ruinous run of just nine points from a possible 21 has seen their title push be derailed.

And following his criticism, Arsenal fans were quick to hit back at Neville on social media.

One Arsenal supporter shared a photo of a MailOnline article from 2016 when the former United defender had admitted he would pay a £5,000 fine for his infamous celebration against Liverpool a hundred times over.

In the 2006 clash at Old Trafford, Rio Ferdinand had scored a last gasp winner to secure a 1-0 win before Neville celebrated madly in front of Reds supporters.

They also posted another screenshot from his playing days when Neville had criticised the FA for fining him for his passionate celebration in the game, claiming that 'they (must) want robotic players who are devoid of passion'.

They had captioned the two photos with: 'This you @Gnev2?'.

The pundit shared the tweet and said 'I think so,' coupled with a party emoji.

Elsewhere, another tweet from a Gunners fan said: 'Anyone remember Gary Neville kissing Paul Scholes on the lips as United beat City in 2010, only for Chelsea to win the league that year? Over-celebrating @GNev2?'

This was when Scholes scored an injury time winner against United's bitter rivals during one of the final games of the 2009-10 season.

Neville laughed the tweet off and simply said: 'Look at them!', with four crying with laughter emojis.

Meanwhile, Neville then added another tweet which said: 'How many fan channels have Arsenal got?', with the same emoji as he revelled in Arsenal fans' meltdown.

In his original criticism of Zinchenko on Monday Night Football, the 48-year-old had said: 'I always doubted whether this Arsenal team [could win the title], just looking at some of the things that were happening.

'The over-celebrations against Aston Villa [after the 4-2 win in February]. I look at little things that might look a little bit harsh - Zinchenko celebrating an hour after the game with the fans outside and screaming.

'You want your leaders in the team, who have been there before to spread composure around the dressing room and calm everybody down. You don't want them to lift the anxiety, lift the emotion.'

Neville later responded to an Arsenal fan on Twitter, who said: 'There are reasons Arsenal's results have dipped but I don't think Zinchenko tooting his car horn at some Arsenal fans is among them.'

He erroneously said the Zinchenko video emerged after the dramatic 3-2 win over Bournemouth rather than the Palace win just before the international break in March.

But the fan pointed out both results were amidst a run of seven straight league wins which put Mikel Arteta's side in a very strong position to clinch a first title since 2004.

Neville later replied: 'If he was tooting his horn 15 games out after beating Bournemouth, calling huddles 6 games out v the bottom of the league [the 3-3 draw with Southampton last month].

'I'm filling in the blanks of what was going on behind the scenes!!! I've seen it before from emotional teams!

'The experience I'm talking from isn't just from winning titles! I lost 4/5 title races as well.

'Some emotions aren't positive ones for a group even if they look it!'