Brentford striker Ivan Toney has laughed off suggestions of a feud with Arsenal stemming from a social media post last season.
The Bees beat the Gunners 2-0 on the opening day of the 2021/22 campaign, with Toney taking to Twitter to say he had a ‘nice kick about with the boys’ – a sentiment that would become something of a trademark after big wins.
However, Arsenal did not take too kindly to this tweet. Manager Mikel Arteta was shown in the club’s Amazon Prime documentary using it as a source of inspiration in his team talk for the reverse fixture later that season – the Gunners ran out 2-1 winners at the Emirates Stadium – while Arsenal players posted the same message on social media following victories over Brentford in February and on Sunday.
Arsenal fans also targeted Toney with ‘stroll in the park’ chants during their most recent outing at the Gtech Community Stadium.
When asked particularly about Gabriel Magalhaes’ tweet on Sunday echoing his own, Toney admitted he wanted to bite back, but ultimately could not hide his admiration of Arsenal’s progress and performances.
“I think once was funny, second time was a bit cringey!” Toney joked at a press conference.
“I bit my tongue, I wanted to reply, I wanted to nibble. But fair play to them, they played very well, they’re a different Arsenal side from what we played before and they’re going very well.”
Toney was called into the England squad for the first time ahead of their September Nations League fixtures with Italy and Germany, and could become only the third player in Brentford history to represent the Three Lions.
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