Gary Lineker joins the debate about Micah Richards and Roy Keane | Football | Sport

Gary Lineker thoroughly enjoyed the lively exchanges between Micah Richards and Roy Keane after Manchester City’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal. The first half at the Etihad on Sunday was action-packed, with Erling Haaland getting past William Saliba and Gabriel to score an early goal for City.

Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori then equalised with a spectacular long-range strike and the visitors took the lead when Gabriel headed in his second goal in a row. However, their momentum was halted when Leandro Trossard was sent off for a second yellow card just before half-time.

Despite being a man down, Mikel Arteta’s Gunners defended staunchly in the second half. But it was John Stones who had the final say, scoring in the 98th minute to share the victory. After the game, Sky Sports analyst Richards praised the “incredible” performance of Arsenal’s centre-backs.

Keane, however, disputed that argument, insisting that conceding two goals hardly indicated an outstanding performance. Their back-and-forth was later discussed on The Rest Is Football podcast, where Lineker appeared to back up his co-host Richards.

The Match of the Day presenter argued: “It was a great little tête-à-tête between you two. It wasn’t an argument but let’s say Roy wanted to make his point and he said, ‘Well, anyone can just defend, that’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 that ridiculous,” added Richards, to which Lineker replied with a chuckle: “But it was entertaining. He knows how to be Roy Keane.”

Richards had high praise for the defensive duo Saliba and Gabriel, saying live: “I thought Gabriel and Saliba were incredible. To defend like that for 45 minutes in the second half against the best team in the league was simply remarkable. They went at each other, created space, organised, and Gabriel scored a goal.”

“When Gabriel came to Arsenal [he was] He made a few mistakes on the ball, but he changed his game every week to be reliable. Whether it was defending set pieces, attacking set pieces or his overall game, I just thought he was remarkable.”

Keane simply joked: “They conceded two goals. They can’t have defended that well.” But Richards was quick to defend the duo’s performance, stressing: “Yes, against one of the best teams we have ever seen in the history of the Premier League.”