Gary Neville accuses Arsenal star Oleksandr Zinchenko of 'over-celebrating'

Gary Neville has accused Arsenal of 'over-celebrating' wins before their Premier League title collapse with their players guilty of becoming 'too emotional' as they battled Manchester 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 Arsenal overtaken with Pep Guardiola's team on the verge of securing a third straight title.

Analysing Arsenal's 3-0 home loss to Brighton on Sky's Monday Night Football, Neville said: 'I always doubted whether this Arsenal team, 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 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.'

Neville 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!'

City, who are four points clear of Arsenal now with a game in hand, could be champions again as early as this weekend if the Gunners lose at Nottingham Forest.

In an exclusive interview with Mail Sport in March, Zinchenko spoke about his celebration after the Palace game.

'This is one of my favourite corners in London,' he said. 'Every time I'm passing this pub – because it's the way to my home – and every time there is a lot of Arsenal fans.

'Every time I try to put my window down and scream because after (a game) I have incredible energy. And you just want to share these emotions with them.'

The Ukrainian defender added: 'We are not robots, we are human beings. We're just doing our job and when this job is successful, why are we not allowed (to celebrate)? I don't understand.

'Of course we didn't win the Premier League yet and there are still a lot of games to play. But every single game in the Premier League is so tough… that's why we celebrate.'

Neville also said on Sky: 'I do think there is an element of throwing the title away because of the nature of the defeats.

'Being up in games, being 2-0 up in two games [at Liverpool and West Ham], losing 3-1 against the bottom of the league. Yesterday, what happened.

'In 2023, we don't use the same emotive language we have done in previous years.

'There is no doubt if this was going back to the Kevin Keegan era this would be described very harshly, this Arsenal team would be being attacked now for what has happened in then last few weeks.

'But we are obviously a lot more conscious and a lot more aware of the language we are using around it.

'But what we have got to say about it is that at the elite level, at high performance levels, you have to make sure you perform whether it be at Augusta coming up the last or the World Championships at snooker, whether it be the Olympic Games, the biggest moments, the most pressurised moments, you have got to deliver it at those moments.

'I've said about being cold during the title run-in and I just think there was an element of emotion. Xhaka at Anfield [squaring up to Trent Alexander-Arnold with Arsenal 2-0 ahead], Partey losing his form in games and getting caught on the ball in difficult moments.

'From all that it became very tough for them mentally and it's caused them a big issue in the last few weeks.'