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Simon Jordan has criticised Martin Keown for what he described as ‘biased’ commentary during Arsenal’s Champions League draw with Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night.
Jordan’s comments referred to a controversial refereeing decision late in the match, when the Premier League leaders were awarded a penalty after Noni Madueke went down inside the box.
Kai Havertz converted the spot-kick in the 89th minute to secure a 1-1 draw for Arsenal against the German side.
The decision has divided opinion, with some believing Madueke exaggerated the contact and effectively bought the foul, arguing that there was only a slight nick on his left boot – not enough to bring him down.
Former Arsenal defender Keown though was firmly in the camp that Madueke had in fact received enough contact to be brought down in the box, saying: ‘For me it was a penalty.
‘You had to see it from different angles first but for me, that left foot definitely gets trapped in from the torso of (Tillman). There’s no doubt about that.’
Former Arsenal defender Keown was firmly in the camp that Madueke had in fact received enough contact to be brought down in the box, saying: ‘For me it was a penalty’
TNT Sports presenter Lynsey Hipgrave then appeared to question Keown’s ability to be objective about his former side, saying: ‘If that was given against Arsenal though, what would you be thinking?’
To which Keown replied: ‘You’re turning things around though. It wasn’t Lynsey. It wasn’t a penalty given against Arsenal.’
Hipgrave then pressed on: ‘But would you be saying to me he (Tillman) hardly touched him (Madueke)?’
‘What I will say is that VAR won’t go against that if there’s any kind of contact,’ Keown said. ‘And we can see there that there was contact.’
The clip of Keown’s defence appears to have infuriated talkSPORT host and former Crystal Palace chairman Jordan, who replied to it on X: ‘Oh dear Martin ffs
‘Did I say that old Keown lacks objectivity.
‘f**k me backwards, he is the grand frommage of bias.’
Jordan’s fellow talkSPORT host Gabby Agbonlahor also took issue with Keown’s commentary, saying: ‘Madueke dived. Blatant dive. Mr bias, Martin Keown, doing the game last night said it was a definite penalty.
‘It’s getting a bit silly now his bias towards Arsenal. I’m just surprised VAR didn’t overturn it. Arsenal were very lucky and boring to watch.’
‘Madueke dived. Blatant dive. Mr bias, Martin Keown, doing the game last night said it was a definite penalty. It’s getting a bit silly now his bias towards Arsenal,’ Agbonlahor said
This isn’t the first time that Jordan has criticised Keown for lacking objectivity in regard to his former side, with the pair getting involved in a heated row live on air after Arteta’s side had beaten Tottenham in the north London derby.
The result ended a two-game winless run, including succumbing to a late draw to bottom-placed Wolves, and Keown insisted that the league leaders demanded more respect from those who had claimed Arsenal were ‘bottling’ it.
Keown accused talkSPORT presenter Andy Goldstein of ‘taking fun’ from Arsenal’s ‘demise’, to which an infuriated Jordan said: ‘I’m not sure you need to lecture people about how they conduct themselves, Martin, you have no objectivity.
‘So the reason why you catch shrapnel is because you lack objectivity.
‘You are very subjective about situations, you become very defensive of it, no-one has got any agenda against Arsenal.’
