Arsenal vs Man City needle and aggro is just what the Premier League needs

THIS is what the public wants.

Grudge matches, aggro, needle, spite, petty vendettas and schoolboy antics.

The idea of not just beating the other lot but absolutely rubbing their noses in it.

Watch a top Premier League match as a neutral and, while you might admire world-class talent or wonderful goals, what really seizes your attention is s**thousing, showboating, hatred, ridicule and utter disrespect.

Sunday at the Emirates — Gabriel v Erling Haaland, Myles Lewis-Skelly v Haaland, everyone v Haaland — was a throwback to Keane-Vieira and Fergie-Wenger.

The peak of the United-Arsenal enmity. Arsenal versus Manchester City, satisfying the bloodlust of the masses in peacetime.

The dislike was clear and obvious, Arsenal’s desire for revenge — after an explosive end to their 2-2 draw at the Etihad in September — was palpable.

Sure, it was mainly playground stuff — Gabriel screaming in Haaland’s face after Arsenal’s opener, Lewis-Skelly copying the Norwegian’s goal celebration, everyone calling Haaland a “c*”.

It was trivial, foul-mouthed pantomime.

But it was a hell of a lot of fun.

Gabriel went early against Haaland and might have ended up looking foolish.

And there may be future recriminations for Lewis-Skelly — an inexperienced rookie refusing to “stay humble” and giving it to an established great.

But one thing is for certain, the viewers lapped it up.

For several years now, the English top-flight has become too nicey-nicey. Even high-stakes title showdowns have come with too much tiresome mutual respect.

There is a time and place for mutual respect — and that is  post-retirement.

Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger gush about each other in their pipe and slippers and it is heart-warming.

And Gabriel Clarke’s “Keane & Vieira: Best of Enemies” was  one of the finest TV sporting documentaries, as two great warhorses relived the Premier League’s most engrossing on-field rivalry with a grudging sense of affection after both had hung up their knuckle-dusters.

But mutual respect in the here and now is a crushing bore.

The entire nation stopped to watch Fergie’s United against Wenger’s Arsenal — not just because they were the best teams in the country but because they genuinely loathed one another.

Tunnel rucks, pizza- slinging, on-field brawls and  Martin Keown’s scary-monster taunting of Ruud van Nistelrooy. Were you not entertained?

Great managerial feuds — such as Fergie v Wenger, Wenger v Mourinho and Mourinho v Benitez — are a thing of the past.

Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta — former  colleagues and still, to some extent, friends  — have not engaged with any of it.

But that doesn’t matter.

Press conference barbs and managerial mind games are just words. On-field antipathy offers true theatre.

Sunday wasn’t perfect. In terms of enmity, as well as the 5-1 scoreline, it was too  one-sided — more hounds-against-fox blood sport than a heavyweight boxing slugfest.

Haaland is from streetfighting stock — his father Alfie’s age-old feud with Keane is  legendary and Haaland senior had a post-match online jibe at Arsenal while his son pointed to the champions badge on his City shirt after the final whistle.

But Haaland aside, City looked like the victims of a mugging. They didn’t expect it and they didn’t truly get it.

While they were being humiliated by Arsenal’s players and supporters, City didn’t collect a single yellow card.

Even during an era of four straight titles, and six in seven seasons, of financial envy and of  Premier League charges claiming 130 breaches of PSR rules, City’s players aren’t used to being truly disliked by fired-up rivals.

Guardiola doesn’t welcome it because the levels of desire Arsenal showed can skew a game of football, adding a chaos factor which can negate his status as football’s greatest thinker.

When the clubs next meet, should the lawyers allow it, it will be intriguing to see whether City engage or attempt to rise above the needle.

The atmosphere at the Emirates has improved since Arteta lifted Arsenal into title contention.

But it has rarely been the bearpit of Sunday — with the beastly Haaland baited relentlessly.

It was like those legendary visits by Wenger’s Arsenal to face Tony Pulis’ Stoke at the Britannia — always  red-letter dates for fight fans.
Between 2008 and 2014, Arsenal visited eight times, losing five and winning only once.

The clash of styles and oceans of bile made those extraordinary occasions — with Arsenal usually beaten up and mocked mercilessly by a team Wenger accused of “rugby tactics”.

Chelsea versus Spurs became a genuine grudge match — among players not just rival supporters — climaxing in the 2016 Battle of Stamford Bridge when the Blues clinched the title for Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester in a 2-2 draw dripping with malevolence.

Such occasions are increasingly rare. Managers are more respectful and players more polite, while rules and refereeing approaches have — rightly or wrongly — softened the game.

But for global audiences, Sunday at the Emirates  was a reminder that spite and menace can provide entertainment and fun.

Surely, we need more of this. So who is joining me in urging the FA to start up a Disrespect campaign?

Go for Myles

ENGLAND have been struggling to find a decent left-back in recent years.

So, even though he’s just 18, played only ten Premier League matches and never won an Under-21 cap, Myles Lewis-Skelly (right) should be in  when Thomas Tuchel names his first starting line-up against Albania next month.

Wood's Goal-D

CHRIS WOOD’S hat-trick in the 7-0 rout of Brighton takes the 33-year-old journeyman to 17 Premier League goals this season — and propels the Nottingham Forest striker  into Golden Boot contention.

Look back over the 33-year history of the competition and the list of each season’s leading scorers is largely a who’s who of its greatest strikers.

The most surprising previous winners — none of them all that surprising — include Jamie Vardy, Son Heung-min, Dion Dublin and Kevin Phillips.

So if Wood pips Mo Salah (21) and Erling Haaland (19) to take the prize, the Kiwi would be the unlikeliest of the lot.

Ready Eddie?

IT’S ludicrous this week’s Carabao Cup semi-final second legs are a month after the initial matches — due to the ever-sprawling nature of Uefa club competitions.

But the flipside is the Newcastle-Arsenal tie — which appeared a dead rubber after Eddie Howe’s team won 2-0 — now looks very much ‘game on’ after they lost twice at home and Arsenal demolished Manchester City.

Tomorrow could be squeaky bum time on the Tyne.

Dunk and dive

MUCH mirth and mockery of Lewis Dunk after the Brighton man netted his seventh Premier League own goal — only Richard Dunne has scored more.

Yet own goals are usually worthy attempts to stop certain goals.
Dunk, like Dunne, is an old-school, body-on-the-line defender, willing to take one for the team

Amorim's Messiah complex

THE concept of Ruben Amorim being Manchester United’s last great hope is a compelling one, embraced by most fans

But it has given the Portuguese a messiah complex, thinking he’s a genius who sees things mortals can’t imagine . . . Kobbie Mainoo at centre-forward in a 2-0 home loss to Palace.