PRINCE WILLIAM aimed a cheeky dig at Martin Keown after the Arsenal legend’s decision to name Martin Odegaard man of the match after Aston Villa’s dramatic win over the Gunners.
Villa won 2-1 in stoppage time at Villa Park thanks to Emi Buendia’s strike in the dying minutes of the game.
It provided a stunning finish to the game after Matty Cash’s opening goal was cancelled out by Leandro Trossard.
Arsenal were well underpar and the result was a hammer blow in their bid to win the Premier League title, with Manchester City closing the gap to two points.
And Prince William – who is a life-long Aston Villa fan – questioned why match-winner Buendia did not get the honour of man of the match after the game.
Writing from the Kensington Royal account on X, he wrote: “Surely Emi Buendia for man of the match, [TNT Sports]?! An incredible game! UTV!”
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And Keown conceded he was happy to “unofficially” hand the award to Buendia after admitting he chose Odegaard in the 89th minute.
The Arsenal legend replied live on air: “I’m really sorry that I’ve upset royalty, but I actually gave it out – can you believe it – in the 89th minute. I was a bit early.
“We can unofficially do it [give it to Buendia]. I don’t want to be court-martialled.”
Manchester United legend Paul Scholes also wasn’t happy with Keown’s commentary during the game.
He likened him to former Manchester United TV commentator and ex-Red Devil Paddy Crerand, who had previously been accused of bias towards the club.
Scholes said: “Listening to Keown on TNT is like listening to Paddy Crerand on MUTV.”
Keown was criticised for alleged bias towards his former team – despite also playing for Villa during his career.
One fan claimed: “Martin Keown is hands down the most biased commentator when it comes to the team he used to play for. Doesn’t even try and disguise it!”
A second added: “I’ve never heard such biased takes in my life and that takes some doing.”
After the game, Keown admitted the result was “sickening” for Arsenal and their title hopes, but said it was an exciting end to the game.
He said: “It was an amazing finish to this game. You’re happy for the Villa fans in the end, but that’s a sickening way for Arsenal to lose this epic game. And that’s what the Premier League gives us now.”
“This is where you’ve got to recover,” Keown added. “You dust yourself off. It’s how you react to adversity and they’ll see this as a major blow.
“This is a difficult place to come to, it’s a fortress, they’ve lost one game here all season, so it can happen.
“There’s been a lot of hurt over the years and this is maybe just a blip on the road. I don’t think this is going to derail what they’re trying to achieve.
“It’s important to get people back again to form that base in defence. They’re still learning, new partnership in the middle. You can’t expect it to be perfect. But it’s disappointing.”
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