Micah Richards and Roy Keane had an entertaining back-and-forth (Image: Sky Sports)
Gary Lineker thoroughly enjoyed the spirited exchange between Micah Richards and Roy Keane following Manchester City and Arsenal's 2-2 draw. It was all action in the first half at the Etihad on Sunday, with Erling Haaland piercing through William Saliba and Gabriel to net an early goal for City.
Arsenal's Riccardo Calafiori then equalised with a spectacular long-range effort. And the visitors took the lead when Gabriel nodded in his second goal in consecutive matches. However, their momentum was halted as Leandro Trossard received his marching orders for a second bookable offence just before half-time.
Despite being a man down, Mikel Arteta's Gunners put up a staunch defence in the second half. But it was John Stones who had the final say, scoring in the 98th minute to share the spoils. After the match, Sky Sports analyst Richards lauded the "unbelievable" performance of Arsenal's central defenders.
Keane, however, countered that argument, insisting that conceding two goals hardly indicated a stellar performance. Their back-and-forth was later discussed on The Rest Is Football podcast, where Lineker seemed to back his co-host Richards.
The Match of the Day presenter argued: "It was a great little tete-a-tete between the two of you. It wasn't a row but let's say Roy wanted to make his points, he went 'Well anyone can just defend, it's easy'. And he said 'I don't know what you're talking about Micah, they've conceded two goals, they can't have been that good.'"
"Isn't it ridiculous," Richards added, prompting Lineker to respond with a chuckle: "It was entertaining though. He knows how to be Roy Keane."
Gary Lineker appeared to side with Richards in the debate (Image: The FA via Getty)
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Richards had high praise for the partnership of Saliba and Gabriel in defence, commending their performance on-air as he said: "I thought Gabriel and Saliba were unbelievable. To defend like that for 45 minutes in the second half against the best team in the league, it was just remarkable. Going and getting tight, dropping off spaces, organising, Gabriel scoring a goal.
"When Gabriel came to Arsenal [he was] making a few mistakes on the ball, but he's sort of changed his game to be reliable every single week. Whether it's set pieces defending, set pieces attacking, his overall play, I just thought he was remarkable."
Keane simply quipped: "They conceded two goals. They can't have defended that well." But Richards was quick to defend the duo's effort, pointing out: "Yeah, against one of the best teams we've ever seen in Premier League history."
