GARY O’NEIL has slammed Arsenal’s tactics during their 2-1 win against Wolves at the Emirates Stadium.
The Wanderers boss accused the Gunners of deliberately wasting time in the closing stages of his team’s defeat on Saturday.
Mikel Arteta’s side started strong as they were 2-0 ahead in the first 20 minutes of the game thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.
With the Gunners thinking they had secured the three points, Matheus Cunha’s late 84th-minute goal forced Arteta’s men to fight until the end.
And an extra six minutes in added time gave Wolves further hope that they could find a late equaliser.
But much to O’Neil’s frustration, some cynical delaying tactics from Arsenal prevented that.
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After their loss, O’Neil hit out at the officials for failing to punish the Gunners ‘time-wasting’.
He told beIN Sport: “I just thought Arsenal took ages over the restarts at the end.
“I was told we were going to 98 because there was a long stoppage in added time but they had three restarts and they took 45 seconds with each.
“I felt at the time it could have been extended slightly because we’re trying to clamp down on timewasting.
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“Sometimes you don’t expect Arsenal to be time-wasting but I am sure if we had taken as long over some of the throws and restarts away at the Emirates we would have been receiving yellow cards.
“No criticism of Arsenal, if it was me I would’ve had my team taking their time at that moment as well.
“We’re seeing a lot of people booked for delaying restarts and didn’t feel like we got the time we thought we should’ve had.”
Time wasting prevented Wolves from being able to secure a point and allowed Arsenal to move three points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
Meanwhile, O’Neil’s Wolves’ side sit 13th in the table with only four wins in 14 league games this term.
The West Midlands side hopes to turn things around in their clash against Burnley on Tuesday night.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
