LONDON — Unai Emery rejected claims that he snubbed Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta after the full-time whistle in Aston Villa‘s clash with the Premier League leaders at the Emirates Stadium.
Villa’s 11-game winning streak was snapped Tuesday night, with Arsenal running rampant to win 4-1 on the back of a barnstorming second half.
Four second-half goals from Gabriel Magalhães, Martín Zubimendi, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus saw the Gunners open up a five-point lead at the top of the table. Ollie Watkins grabbed a goal back in added time, but Villa’s fate had long been sealed by then.
The incident in question took place soon after the game ended, when Emery was seen quickly rushing down the tunnel without shaking hands with Arteta as is customary between managers at full time.
When questioned about the apparent snub, Emery adamantly explained in his post-match news conference: “Yes, but it’s simple. You can watch. After [finishing] the match, always my routine is quick, shake hands and go with my coaches, with my players, or go to the dressing room.
“And I was waiting, I was waiting. Of course, he was happy and he was with his coaches and I decided to go inside. But for me, no problem.”
“I can’t wait, it was cold,” he also said when asked about the incident by Sky Sports.
While Arteta was seen waiting for Emery by the touchline after the match, he said the lack of a handshake wasn’t an issue.
“No, that’s OK. That’s part of the game, not an issue at all,” the Arsenal manager told a news conference.
Emery also hadn’t shaken hands with Arteta following his side’s win over Arsenal in December 2023.
The loss at the Emirates leaves Villa in third place, six points adrift of leaders Arsenal. Despite the manner of defeat, Emery took encouragement from his side’s showing. It was comfortably the better side in the first half and could have easily gone into the break ahead.
“Football,” Emery said when asked about what happened in the second half. “We competed fantastically in the first half and we were getting our momentum, creating chances, corners. We were defending very well when we needed it. We didn’t concede a corner in the first half.
“One or two chances they had, but we were against a [better] team in the league and how they’re performing here and how they are with the supporters and with the crowd. Later we were feeling comfortable and in the second half we conceded the first goal.
“We conceded the second goal, maybe as well it didn’t help us that [Amadou] Onana got injured because he’s important for us in pieces and in the middle.
“And then we didn’t give up and we continued trying to compete like we are doing. We conceded another two goals and then even for me we were not giving up and we scored one goal and we had another chance and we finished the match.”
Aston Villa are next in action Saturday when they host Nottingham Forest at Villa Park.