Arsenal players slammed over footage of team appearing to ignore young mascot

Arsenal have sparked controversy by sharing footage of their first-team squad appearing to ignore a young mascot over the weekend.

Before their 2-2 draw away at West Ham on Sunday, the Gunners posted a video on social media which shows Mikel Arteta and his players signing a shirt for the mascot on their way to the dressing room at the London Stadium.

However, fans were quick to point out the abrupt manner in which they did so, accusing them of failing to acknowledge the young girl as she looked up in admiration.

While it is unclear whether she enjoyed any further interactions with the players, several users took to Twitter to blast Arsenal stars over the video - branding them 'rude'.

One wrote: 'Not even a quick “hello”… if this is the sort of player-fan interaction you think is social media worthy, I dread to think how the players behave when the cameras aren’t rolling.'

Another said: 'Would help if they acknowledged the poor little girl!! Clowns.'

'Are you actually kidding. Not one interaction with her. Entitled, over paid and rude,' concluded a third.

A fourth put: 'She’d have far better memories if one of them gave eye contact or were bothered to acknowledge the girl. Rude and entitled springs to mind!'

Another posted: 'Not a single player acknowledged her.. interactions make memories not signatures. Classless of arsenal, they really thought posting this would be a good pr stunt'.

Arsenal captioned the video 'Making memories with our mascot', but one replied: 'Memories of being blanked by your heroes.'

Television presenter Nick Knowles was also critical of Arsenal, saying: 'I suggest @Arsenal you get her and her family back and give your players another go at being decent human beings - admittedly they’d have to be coached into it but it might be something that sticks with some of them if it’s pointed out'.

Mail Sport has approached Arsenal for comment.

Later that afternoon, Arsenal suffered a major dent to their Premier League title hopes when they blew a two-goal lead for the second successive week.

Having also been held to a 2-2 draw at Liverpool after leading 2-0, Arteta's men were again pegged back by West Ham despite scoring twice in the opening 10 minutes.

As a result, they now lead Manchester City at the top of the table by just four points having played a game more than their title rivals, and with a mouthwatering showdown between the two clubs to come at the Etihad next week.