Source: SKY_Sports
Mad-ebayor
Phil Thompson watch Emmanuel Adebayor sour Manchester City's stunning win over Arsenal with two 'moments of madness'.
The Togo striker scored an inevitable goal against his former club as Mark Hughes' expensively-assembled side sounded out a warning to rest of the Premier League with a vibrant display.
An own goal from Manuel Almunia and late strikes from Craig Bellamy and Shaun Wright-Phillips gave them their most impressive scalp this season and ensured Adebayor and Kolo Toure put one over their ex-employers.
But instead of talking about the striker's goal - a neat headed finish - Thompson was left discussing two incidents that blighted his copybook.
First, Adebayor was involved with an ugly incident in which his boot caught Robin van Persie in the face, then after scoring he sprinted the length of the pitch to celebrate right in front of the irate Arsenal fans.
"I would say it's a moment of madness against Robin van Persie," Thompson told Soccer Saturday.
"I've seen it more and more and it looks horrible - it could be one of those they have a look at later on. It wasn't far from Mark Clattenberg, who refereed the game exceptionally well, but he missed the incident.
"Van Persie goes in to challenge Adebayor and as he is sort of falling, Adebayor, and stepping over him he puts his foot out and in my opinion, he takes a little poke at him and catches him in the face.
"The more you see it, the more awful it looks and only Adebayor knows if he meant it.
"For the goal, he did rub it in! It was a great goal; it was Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right-hand side with a great ball in and it's not that high but he's stooped and put it in the bottom corner.
"But he's scored at one end and then gone off on a run, the complete length of the pitch, to slide right down in front of the Arsenal fans, which is absolutely daft.
"I want to see celebration and it annoys me when guys keep getting yellow cards for celebrating, but this was silly. He had plenty of time when he was running to think 'hold on, what am I doing?'. He could've stopped and enjoyed it in the middle of the pitch."
As impressive as the scoreline was, Thompson refused to agree that the victory shows City are ready to challenge for the Premier League title this year.
He felt Arsenal looked the likelier winners when the game was poised at 1-1, only to be undone by a dose of their own medicine as City caught them on the counter-attack to run out winners.
"Man City have shown they can compete," he said. "This was the first real, big test for them and they've come through it with flying colours.
"A lot of them were counter-attacks. Arsenal have done it to teams in the past themselves but now this is Arsenal, who are looking to try and win the game, not keeping the back door shut - and that will be a big worry for Arsene Wenger.
"I think the pair of them will be vying for that fourth spot."
