Garth Crooks criticises Mikel Arteta's time wasting tactics vs Fulham

Mikel Arteta might be flying at the top of the Premier League but that just seems to be making him an even bigger target for pundits.

Arteta was being laughed at before the season started, after the releasing of the All or Nothing documentary footage that showed him playing You'll Never Walk Alone on speakers in training.

But it's been completely different since the season started, with the Gunners hitting the type of form that has some discussing them as title challengers.

The north London club are four from four at the start of the campaign and the only club in the Premier League yet to drop any points.

The latest win came on Saturday evening as they beat Fulham, thanks to Gabriel's late goal, which made up for his huge error earlier in the game that helped put the Cottagers ahead.

However, Arteta and the players' celebrations at full time came under fire from the celebration police, this time in the shape of punditry dinosaurs Richard Keys and Andy Gray.

And it's not the only thing that the former Manchester City assistant manager did wrong according to another television pundit, after he was caught time wasting.

A video from late in the match showed the former midfielder pick up the ball in the technical area and roll it away from Fulham players wanting to take a throw in.

That hasn't gone down well with master of the unhinged team of the week, and former Tottenham Hotspur star, Garth Crooks, who suggested it was beneath Arsenal manager's of the past.

"My only problem with that statement is I didn’t like the way the Arsenal manager went about it against Fulham," Crooks wrote on BBC Sport under the headline of 'How Arteta is turning Arsenal into contenders.'

"To see Mikel Arteta watch the ball roll off the pitch into the technical area, pick it up and then throw it away as the Fulham player was racing to get the ball back into play in a desperate attempt to get an equaliser as the final seconds ticked away, had me hopping with fury.

"Managers should never touch the ball unless they intend to hand it back to the player. Bertie Mee or Arsene Wenger would never have behaved in such a manner and they have won titles."

Arsenal fans will be thinking that the longer they're pissing off pundits is only a good sign of how well they're doing, unless the pundit happens to be Martin Keown...