City get a taste of their own medicine as Arsenal keep their class

City get a taste of their own medicine as Arsenal keep their class

Go online and you are more likely to find negativity than positivity.

For a while now, I have felt that few teams who have reached May sitting in a Champions League final while also leading their league have received the criticism Arsenal have had.

Banter on social media is natural, especially in a world where content creators seem to believe the quickest way to get views is by shouting down a camera and mocking other clubs.

Yet, for some time, it has felt like the disrespect towards the Gunners has crossed the line from rivalry into spitefulness.

Arsenal have refused to lower their standards

When we lost at the Etihad last month, I watched a Manchester City fan, for the second week in a row, being spotted on television drinking out of an Arsenal bottle.

I would love to tell you that what goes around comes around, but sadly that is not always the case.

So maybe this is naive, but I have had a feeling for a while that Arsenal have been so disrespected that they might just end up having the final laugh.

When the entrance to Highbury was being painted, Herbert Chapman personally paid for marble paint out of his own pocket.

He wanted the first impression any visitor had to be that this club does things the right way.

Carrying on those principles, our manager and players have refused to rise to provocation.

Even Everton, though, spotted the irony on Monday when the same City fan with the bottle was once again seen in the crowd. As the Toffees themselves pointed out, the bottle stayed in his pocket this time and never came out.