The first four weeks of the Premiership have passed and we now have the customary international break to look forward to as we look ahead to the European Championships next summer. In the meantime that’s take a look back at some of the most embarrassing moments from the last weekend of English football, I’ve a feeling you may know who is number one on our list.
- Granit Xhaka
Arsenal’s midfielder came under fire on Saturday after conceding a penalty in Sunday’s North London derby against Spurs, with Arsenal legend Martin Keown going so far as to say the Swiss international could be on ‘borrowed time’ at The Emirates Stadium. If there’s one game an Arsenal player doesn’t want to make a mistake in it’s this one and quite what Xhaka was thinking as he slid in on Heung-min Son is anyone’s guess as he got nowhere near the ball and took the Spurs midfielder out, giving Harry Kane the chance to put Spurs 2-0 up. Fortunately for Xhaka, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a goal apiece to give the Gunners a share of the spoils.
- Owen vs Shearer
You’d almost think Michael Owen had a new book coming out, well if he has he’s certainly got everyone talking. The former England striker and Ballon d’Or winner sparked controversy among football fans when he said that there were times towards the end of his career when he couldn’t wait to retire, of course some fans of Newcastle United were quick to point out that Owen could have done just that instead of taking the small fortune he was earning in wages from the club. Newcastle fans were also angered by Owen’s statement in his new book that he regretted joining Newcastle and this prompted Alan Shearer to weigh in, the Geordie legend had a dig at the wages Owen was happy to pick up with Owen retorting that perhaps Shearer was not as loyal to Newcastle as he likes to make out.
- Kevin Friend
We probably wouldn’t have needed to give you three guesses to figure out who was going to be number one on the list this week. It’s perhaps hard to know for Villa fans who exactly to be annoyed with more, Kevin Friend for disallowing the goal for what he believed was a Jack Grealish dive or the VAR official for not deeming this to be a clear and obvious error. While it’s impossible to know what would have happened had Grealish’s goal stood if Villa had held out for a draw they would currently been outside the relegation zone and if they had of went on to win the game they would currently be in the top half of the table, the draw as it happens leaves them sitting in the bottom three and if they remain there in May this will be a moment their fans, players and management will look back to.
