Dani Ceballos was ‘gutted’ to be left out the Arsenal starting line-up which resulted in him clashing with teammate Eddie Nketiah ahead of Saturday’s defeat of Fulham.
There were shock scenes before kick-off at Craven Cottage, as Ceballos and Nketiah had to be pulled apart after the former went in hard on the young striker during a warm-up.
Twice he put in tough challenges which ended in a bust-up between the two players, though Arsenal overcame the issue to breeze to an easy 3-0 opening day win.
Ceballos flew into a challenge on Nketiah which resulted in the bust-up
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Strike partners Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang both scored for the Gunners, either side of centre-back Gabriel netting on his debut for Arsenal.
Neither of the players involved in the pre-match bust-up started in west London, though both were introduced as second-half substitutes.
And talkSPORT host Tony Cascarino believes Ceballos instigated the clash out of pure frustration at being left out the starting line-up by Mikel Arteta.
Some people might look at that and think its fine, or its just players getting competitive, began Casc on Sunday’s Weekend Sports Breakfast.
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But they are substitutes, which is a little bit different.
Ceballos probably felt before the game he was going to be in the line-up; and it was a typical challenge from an angry man who was gutted he had been left out.
Casc then went on to open up on a similar incident which occurred while he was playing for Chelsea.
In my career, Ive seen it quite a lot, he added. The best ever was Dennis Wise when he was left out by Ian Porterfield at Chelsea.
Ceballos and Nketiah appeared to have cleared the air after the match
I cant repeat a lot of it, but his behaviour in the dressing room was extraordinary. He was furious!
Dennis was a total competitor who didnt like backing down, and that made him the player he was.
That incident reminded me of that, a player being told he is not in the starting line-up.
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