Former Oasis rocker Noel Gallagher, who is an ardent fan of Premier League giants Manchester City, recently laughed off the buzz about City’s captain Ilkay Gundogan possibly joining Arsenal this summer and branded Gunners’ fans as “idiots” following their title collapse.
Noel Gallagher slams the Arsenal fans
After relinquishing an eight-point lead at the summit of the Premier League, Arsenal’s campaign ended on a disappointing note at the weekend when they were beaten by Nottingham Forest – a result that sealed a fifth domestic crown in six years for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Although few people tipped Arsenal to even finish in the top-four ahead of the season, the Gunners ran the champions close and even looked nailed on to end their agonising 19-year title drought at one point. But after seeing his team retain their crown, Oasis legend Gallagher has rubbed salt in the wounds of Arsenal fans.
Speaking on talkSPORT, the Manchester City fan said:
“The fact that Arsenal handed it to us [by losing to Nottingham Forest] made it that little bit more sweeter because they were celebrating it in January, weren’t they?
“When Pep talks about being there at the end, we were saying to Arsenal fans, it’s the last six games that count, and if City are there and are on your shoulder…
“No one expected Arsenal to turn around and give it to us, but I think once we beat them at the Etihad and beat them convincingly, you could just feel that the air went out of their balloon and they were just gone by that time.”
Arsenal’s title challenge was bolstered by the summer captures of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko: two players who worked with Arteta during the Spaniard’s stint on Guardiola’s coaching staff.
And with Gundogan set to become a free agent in the summer, Arteta has designs on raiding Manchester City again to poach the influential midfield maestro – but Gallagher is adamant Arsenal have no chance of pulling off such a deal.
Gallagher insisted:
“He’s not going to Arsenal, there’s no way! Why would you leave City and go to Arsenal? What for? They can’t pay him anymore money. They’re not going to win anything.”
When it was pointed out by Jim White that Jesus and Zinchenko had, Gallagher quickly retorted:
“They weren’t going to get a game [at City]. Arteta went there because he’s Arsenal. Jesus ain’t going to get a game over [Erling] Haaland, and Zinchenko ain’t going to get a game over [Nathan] Ake.
“So it was a good move for them, but Gundogan isn’t going to go to Arsenal, forget it, it’s not happening!”
Gallagher finished up by taking another swipe at the club’s fans, adding:
“I love it with that lot because the fans are idiots! They are! They’ve got more fan channels than any club in world sport. There’s about 1,000 of them, you can’t look at YouTube without seeing some fan channel.
“I know quite a few [Arsenal fans] and they were giving it the big ‘un in January/February and they know they were. And I watch enough of their fan channels because it is highly amusing, they come out with this: ‘It’s good against evil and all the money’ and all that. It’s just like, suck it up.”
