Piers Morgan rarely misses a chance to take a swipe at Arsenal when they lose, and their 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Monday provided another perfect opportunity.
Mikel Arteta’s side had the chance to go seven points clear of Manchester United and reinstate their three-point gap to Tottenham if they won in south London. After six wins from their last seven games, the Gunners were favourites to take home all three points, even despite injuries to Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
But the north London outfit endured a miserable evening at Selhurst Park in which they were second-best to Patrick Vieira’s side. Jean-Philippe Mateta opened the scoring after 16 minutes before Jordan Ayew doubled the Eagles’ lead just eight minutes later. Wilfried Zaha then converted a late penalty to make sure of the points and condemn Arsenal to their worst defeat since November.
It means that Arsenal stay in fifth, having seen Spurs thrash Newcastle 5-1 on Sunday, although they have a game in hand on their capital rivals heading into the business end of the season. But with a north London derby still to come, Arsenal have allowed Antonio Conte’s side back into the top-four reckoning.
And naturally, Morgan — one of the more high-profile and vocal Arsenal fans on social media — could not contain his frustration as the 57-year-old went into meltdown mode over Arsenal’s below-par display. The former Good Morning Britain presenter tweeted praise of Palace’s approach to the game: “Vieira’s Palace giving us a lesson in aggression, desire & physicality. Least surprising revelation of the Millennium.”
Morgan, who claimed the club were "over-excited" by the prospect of finishing in the top four, was not anywhere near done. Next on his hitlist was Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette, who was criticised for his lack of goals after one goal and four assists in his last six games. He wrote: “BREAKING: Lacazette’s now gone 18 HOURS of Premier League football without scoring in open play. But yeah, so glad we got rid of Aubameyang.”
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It wasn’t long before he started to engage with his followers, who had mercilessly mocked Nuno Tavares after a poor first-half display. One user tweeted Morgan saying: “I'm left footed and can be at palace in time for the second half. Surely can't do worse than Tavares.” Morgan quote-tweeted the post and joked: “I’ll pay for the cab.”
Instead of targeting Arsenal, the TV personality dug through his own tweets and found one from October 2021 in which he posted an image of himself and Patrick Vieira with the caption: “We’ve got the wrong ex Arsenal captain in charge. On tonight’s evidence, this is the guy we need. @OfficialVieira.” Not to be proven wrong by the team’s impressive recent form, Morgan doubled down on his opinion, writing: “Deja vu” next to it.
Morgan, who has consistently opposed Arteta’s appointment at Arsenal, twisted the knife into the Arsenal boss with his final post of the evening when the result was confirmed. Seemingly running out of steam, he picked out an image of Arteta with a troubled expression on his face, captioning the photo by mimicking the phrase: “’Trust the process.’”
Arsenal face Brighton and Southampton before crucial matches against Chelsea and Manchester United. For Morgan’s sake, he will be hoping his team get back on track before he is tempted into launching another tirade at his club.
