Matteo Guendouzi admits that he probably went too far when he mocked Brighton players about their earnings last year, but he insisted that those heated moments happen in football.
The midfielder fell out with Mikel Arteta after he prompted Neal Maupay to accuse Arsenal players of lacking humility.
He was reported to have mocked the players of Brighton about their earnings before he also held the striker by the throat for his perceived role in injuring Bernd Leno.
Arsenal lost the game to the Seagulls and Guendouzi says it was a heated game and in moments like that, players can go out of character.
He was speaking about the incident recently and admitted that he probably shouldn’t have used that gesture, but he maintains that it happens in football and he was certainly not being malicious.
‘It was a gesture that I should have maybe not done,’ he admitted to France Football as quoted by Mail Sport.
‘It might have shocked a few people, yes, but you know, in the Champions League or in a local match, during the games, there is always a lot of frustration.
‘We always want to win. And, during bad results, or injustices or things said on the pitch that you sometimes don’t like, you can, sometimes, have bad reactions.
‘There are things like that, five or six times per match. It is not malicious.
‘There was not a problem with the FA, I was never suspended. It is always in the obsession around winning, to help your team.’
The midfielder has not played for the club since that incident and he has been shipped out on loan to Hertha Berlin in this campaign.