Mikel Arteta delivers brutal one-word Arsenal response to Roy Keane over Man City comments

Latest Arsenal news as Mikel Arteta continues to address his decisions against Manchester City last weekend

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has defended his players after Roy Keane criticised their "small club mentality" following Sunday's 2-2 draw with Manchester City.

The Gunners were seconds away from registering a first win at the Etihad Stadium since 2015 last weekend but John Stones' injury time leveller rescued a point for the champions.

In the aftermath of the game, figures within the football industry have waded in on Arteta's 'dark arts' tactics. Arsenal's defensive solidity had nearly worked with them limiting City to chances in the second-half, when they were down to 10-men.

This week, former Manchester United midfielder Keane brutally criticised Arteta's strategy, likening it to football 'dinosaurs'. "If Tony Pulis, Sam Allardyce, Steve Bruce or Neil Warnock set up a team like that [Arsenal at Manchester City] for the second half, they are 'dinosaurs'," Keane told the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet. "When Arsenal do it, it's called 'brilliant', it's 'concentration levels'.

"When they won the ball back, which they did every now and again, try and look after it and try and get up the pitch. There was an incident when [Ben] White just kicked it out of play, [Declan] Rice a couple of times, just kicked it up the pitch. This is Arsenal we're talking about not a Championship team in the FA Cup that's hanging in there.

"They got a clean sheet last year, so they can get results. I've got nothing wrong with them defending and going deep, but when they got it, they didn't do anything. Martin Odegaard is a massive loss to Arsenal."

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Ahead of this weekend's Premier League clash with Leicester City, Arteta was asked about Keane's comments. "I did what I believed was the right thing to be as competitive as possible to win the game," the Spaniard told reporters.

Asked for a response to Keane's small club mentality jibe, he added: "No."

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