Andrey Arshavin has revealed he used his own version of sledging to put Wayne Rooney off as he went for goal in the Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Manchester United at the Emirates.
United were awarded a free-kick towards the end of the game and Rooney lined up to take it but not before the Russian winger could exchange a few distracting words.
Arshavin told his personal website: “I told him that there is no need for him to score today. Next time you’ll score against somebody else.” Admittedly, it’s a rather tame effort and I can think of a few international cricketers who could do a bit better, but it may have helped.
For the Gunners went on to seal the victory and put a dent in United’s title bid and hand Chelsea the chance to retain the trophy. It’ll all be sorted on Sunday but I won’t watch it as I have some paint to watch dry…and anyway we’ll be on the road home from Stoke.
Meanwhile, we were all pleasantly suprised by Arshavin’s work ethic on Sunday and he has explained: “It happened that I paid more attention to playing defense in this game. This clash turned out in such a way that I had to play according to the situation. My tackles? Well, yes! They turned out great today. I’m glad that the fans appreciated them. I suppose that my sliding tackles came out just fine. I performed them better than Tony Adams in his prime years.”
Er, maybe not but well played anyway!
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