Everton manager David Moyes blasted the killjoy rules that earned him a booking for sprinting onto the pitch to celebrate Beto’s last-gasp equaliser in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Brighton.
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Moyes was unable to contain his emotions at the Amex Stadium when Beto struck in the seventh minute of stoppage-time to cancelout Pascal Gross’ 73rd-minute opener.
The Scot’s delirious dash forced referee Chris Kavanagh to show him a yellow card for leaving the managers’ technical area on the touchline.
Moyes’ joyful pitch invasion was reminiscent of David Pleat dancing on to the Maine Road pitch after his Luton side avoidedrelegation from the top-flight on the final day of the 1982-83 season with a win against Manchester City.
Moyes briefly contemplated capping his memorable celebration with a knee slide. And although the 62-year-old thought betterof that idea in the end, he insisted the yellow card will not curb his enthusiasm in future.
“I hope you’re not going to call me ‘Pleaty’ going forward,” Moyes said.
“The difference is David Pleat doesn’t get booked for it, they think it’s OK and everybody enjoys seeing the celebrations.
“We’re killing it that the managers can’t come out of their technical area to celebrate a goal, knee sliding, do things which give you people quite a bit to talk about.
”No thoughts about what football means to the managers… It’s sad isn’t it. You know what I mean?
Asked if he would do it again, Moyes replied: “I bloody will do it again! “Actually, if I’d been a bit more mobile, I might have done a knee slide. That would only have got me a yellow as well, so I might as well have gone the whole hog.”
ARSENAL EXTEND MARGIN AT TOP
Arsenal settled any fears of a collapse in their pursuit of a first Premier League title in 22 years by thrashing Leeds 4-0 on Saturday as Chelsea came from two goals down to beat West Ham 3-2.
The Gunners’ advantage over Manchester City and Aston Villa, who are both in action on Sunday, stretches to seven points as Mikel Arteta’s men took another step towards the title at Elland Road.
A first home defeat of the season last weekend to Manchester United capped a run of just two points from a possible nine inArsenal’s previous three league games.
After finishing runners-up for the past three seasons, questions were raised over the mentality of Arteta’s men and theirability to get over the line in a title race.
The visitors were dealt another blow before kick-off as Bukayo Saka was injured in the warm-up.
But his replacement Noni Madueke played a major part in inflicting just a second defeat in 12 games on Leeds.
“A very impressive performance, a very impressive result, especially in the context that we’ve done it,” said Arteta.
Madueke’s cross was headed in by Martin Zubimendi to open the scoring. Leeds goalkeeper Karl Darlow could then only parryanother dangerous delivery from the England winger into his own goal before halftime.
Despite a fine run of form, Leeds remain only six points above the relegation zone.
Their first defeat at home since November was confirmed when the much-criticised Viktor Gyokeres latched onto Gabriel Martinelli’scross to blast in his 11th goal since joining Arsenal from Sporting Lisbon.
Gabriel Jesus came off the bench to round off the scoring with a blistering strike four minutes from time.
Arsenal will be hoping local rivals Tottenham can do them a favour when City visit north London, while Villa host Brentfordon Sunday.
ROSENIOR INSPIRES CHELSEA COMEBACK
Chelsea’s fine start under Liam Rosenior continued but they climbed into the top four the hard way after being outplayed byrelegation-threatened West Ham for 45 minutes at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues were booed off at halftime by their own fans after goals from Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville gave the visitorsa deserved lead.
A third consecutive league win would have taken Nuno Espirito Santo’s side to within two points of safety.
But they wilted under the weight of Chelsea pressure after Rosenior’s triple halftime substitution inspired a transformedsecond-half performance.
Two of those introduced at the break, Joao Pedro and Marc Cucurella, brought Chelsea level before Enzo Fernandez fired in the winner in stoppage time.
Chelsea move above Manchester United into fourth and open up a four-point lead over Liverpool, who host Newcastle later, in the battle for a place in next season’s Champions League.
Bournemouth ended any remaining worries of being dragged into a relegation fight as goals from Eli Kroupi and Alex Scott earneda 2-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Wolves.
The Cherries climb up to 12th and 13 points clear of the relegation zone.
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