Arsenal have been accused of over celebrating at times this season, with the likes of Roy Keane, Ian Wright, Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Jill Scott discussing the situation.

Arsenal have been accused of “over celebrating” during their draw with north London rivals Tottenham at the weekend. It comes as the Gunners dropped points for the second time this season, seeing them move four points behind league leaders Manchester City.

After the title challenge last season, which came so close but narrowly missed out on victory, Mikel Arteta would’ve been hopeful this campaign would be different. There was a vulnerability to the north Londoners that saw them collapse in games towards the end, but roughly £200million spent in the summer looked to combat that.

Victories over Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Manchester United and Everton weren’t pretty, but got their campaign off to a decent start. A draw against Fulham was the only blemish heading into the North London Derby, with Tottenham going into it in the same form.

A Cristian Romero own goal followed by a Bukayo Saka penalty saw the Gunners take the lead twice, either side of Son Heung-min’s brace. It was the latter goal for Arsenal which stirred some discussion as the strike saw the whole team celebrate with the fans, only to concede roughly one minute later.

It led to accusations over possible over celebrations during such a big match, with the match far from over when they took the lead the second time. It was a point of discussion for the likes of Roy Keane, Jill Scott, Ian Wright, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher on their new show “Stick to Football”, part of Sky Sports’ The Overlap.

“It’s an awkward one because I don’t like this idea of over celebrating because you’re suggesting players shouldn’t show passion and we want players to show passion when scoring a goal,” Neville said on Arsenal’s celebrations against Tottenham. “It’s a North London Derby, Saka scores the penalty, they celebrate in the corner and Peter Drury is doing the commentary and I’m thinking ‘They’ve been there for about 30 seconds to a minute now’ and there’s no one really grabbing them and I think this game is in danger. Declan Rice has gone off and I’m thinking ‘there’s a bit of a problem there’ and before actually the second goal goes in a minute later, I’m actually saying ‘I think they need to get back, they need to focus here’.

“Is there an element with Arsenal that there’s too much passion, too much emotion, not enough cold thinking and actually the leadership just isn’t quite right in there at the moment in terms of maturity, experience?”

Keane responded: “It’s a big goal though Gary, weren’t it? It was a big goal.”

Neville said: “I know, it’s a fine line this one because I felt it, you know in the stadium,” before Wright said: “You know what, I think if we’re talking about over celebrating, I don’t even know what over celebrating is. I understand what you’re [Neville] saying in the moment but I think that Arsenal players the inexperience may be they say.”

“Someone would be having a word, you’d be having a huddle like ‘right, come on, make sure we’re ready,'” Neville claimed.

Wright continued: “I think this is something that the players are probably going to have to learn as well, but I just think that the pressure that they’re under to try and stay with [Manchester] City and win those games, you know I saw it even last [season] when we score that goal Reiss Nelson against Bournemouth, the place I’ve never heard it like that because the fans are involved, they’re invested and we can’t afford to lose these games.

“When you’re scoring a goal in the last minute, it’s almost relief. Sheffield United and Tottenham, Tottenham at White Hart Lane.” Neville then interrupts to say: “Last minute, I get it.” Wright hits back with: “No, no, no what I’m just saying, I’m talking about the celebrating and what is over celebrating?

“The fact is it’s joy in that moment and for Arsenal fans especially, knowing what we’re trying to do in catching City and knowing how important it is to win those games, yes the fans are absolutely ecstatic, yes the players are celebrating because they feel that they’re maybe getting a little bit closer to something and then in the moment, like you rightly mention, they score a minute later its something they’re gonna have to learn but I ain’t got no problem with celebrating.”