Brentford striker Ivan Toney has hit out at a tweet sent by Arsenal defender Gabriel that mocked the England international after their clash on Sunday. The Gunners ran out 3-0 winners away against the Bees, leaving them top of the Premier League table by the first international break of the season.
It's a drastic improvement on last season's result, having lost the fixture in their first game and starting a three-match losing run early on. In that aftermath of that game, Toney went on to tweet: "Nice kick about with the boys," - something those associated to Arsenal didn't take too kindly.
When asked whether his side had a nice kick about with the boys on Sunday, Mikel Arteta replied: "(chuckles) I’m really pleased the way we played. The performance how we controlled certain areas of the game that are very much needed if you want to dominate the game against Brentford and obviously really pleased to win the match and go top if the league into the break."
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Heading into the game, the tweet became centre of focus again, with the Amazon Prime: Arsenal All or Nothing series previously showing that Arteta used it for motivation to beat their opponent in the reverse fixture. After another emphatic win, the frustration still appears to cut deep, given another mocking reference to it afterwards.
Defender Gabriel Magalhaes this time took to Twitter to replicate it in his own style after victory, something that Toney has responded to since joining up with the England camp for the international break. "Once was funny, second time was a bit cringey," Toney said.
"I bit my tongue, I wanted to reply, I wanted to nibble. But fair play to them, they played very well and they’re a different Arsenal side to what we played before. They’re going very well so fair play to them."
With a reverse fixture against Thomas Frank's side later this season, it remains to be seen if this small rivalry continues to rumble on in some way.
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