Mikel Arteta shares true feelings on controversial Arsenal vs Manchester City incident

There was plenty said about Myles Lewis-Skelly and his goal celebration against Manchester City last season. Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes it was a moment his team have learned from.

The two matches between the title rivals in 2024-25 were packed full of incident. City scored deep into injury time at the Etihad Stadium to earn a 2-2 draw against the Gunners, with Erling Haaland telling Arteta to "stay humble" after the contest.

At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal were able to exact some revenge with a 5-1 mauling of the then champions. Lewis-Skelly netted the third goal of the game, his first for the club.

It was what happened immediately afterwards that sparked more discussion though. The youngster opted to imitate Erling Haaland’s crossed-leg celebration, then the Emirates Stadium DJ played the Kendrick Lamar song Humble at the final whistle in a clear dig at City.

The celebration divided opinion, with some pundits suggesting it crossed a line and others taking such moments as given in what is a heated rivalry. Speaking at his press conference on Friday, Arteta gave his reflections on the flashpoint and the fallout.

“Well that was done, and that's part of it,” he said. “There have been a lot of celebrations or non-celebrations in the past from a lot of teams. The experience is to learn and grow as well and we certainly learnt from that.”

Lewis-Skelly has not started a game for Arsenal yet this season, so looks unlikely to start the game against City on Sunday. The 18-year-old has come off the bench three times so far in the Premier League this season.

Arsenal go into the game after an impressive 2-0 win over Athletic Club in the Champions League on Tuesday. They have also won three of their four top-flight games so far, with the only defeat coming against Liverpool at Anfield.

City look short of the standards they set previously under Pep Guardiola, having already lost twice from their four games.

Haaland has looked back in form in recent weeks though and they come into the game on the back of consecutive wins over Manchester United and Napoli.

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