According to The Mirror, Trent Alexander-Arnold could land himself in hot water after his ‘shushing’ celebration during the Premier League clash with Manchester City at the weekend.
Liverpool took a well-fought point away from their outing at the Etihad on Saturday afternoon and influential vice-captain Alexander-Arnold was on hand to deliver the all-important equaliser in the 80th minute.
There was a lot of conversation surrounding the right-back’s battle with City’s summer signing Jeremy Doku ahead of the game, a tenacious young winger who certainly gave not only Trent but the entire Liverpool defence a lot of work to do.
However, the Liverpool-born represented his home city perfectly by taking full advantage of one of the best chances the team had in the entire game and hitting the back of the net when it was needed most to silence the doubters.
Alexander-Arnold’s ‘shushing’ celebration in front of the Man City supporters did the rounds on social media and became one of the most talked about moments of the game over the rest of the weekend, which has now led to concern that the fullback could suffer consequences because of it.
The Mirror is reporting today that the English Football Association could look to PUNISH the 25-year-old for his celebration as he admitted to deliberately attempting to rile up the Man City supporters with the gesture.
The Merseyside native took to his pre-match interview to defend the gesture ahead of backlash from City fans on social media:
“It’s always good to celebrate in front of away fans. Seeing all of the faces is really funny.”
The publication directs to the IFAB’s Law 12 which states that a player “must be cautioned” for “gesturing or acting in a provocative, derisory or inflammatory way”, which could result in the FA making an example of Alexander-Arnold by charging him for misconduct.
Our verdict on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s celebration…
It seems extremely unlikely that Alexander-Arnold will suffer any punishment for his goal celebration and if he did, it would set a very concerning precedent for how players celebrate their important goals going forward and what the consequences would be for misconduct of this kind.
Whilst provocative celebrations can often result in a yellow card, Chris Kavanagh decided against giving Liverpool’s number 66 a booking and this is the only reason it would be remotely viable in a debate as to whether he should be cautioned by the FA or not.
Having said that, considering the amount of poverty-shaming chants that were echoed around the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon it would surely be a much better use of the FA’s time if it were spent on punishing those who continue to sing these provocative, divisive and offensive songs in the stands.
As a result, Liverpool supporters will likely have very little to worry about when it comes to the repercussions of Alexander-Arnold’s goal celebration as the talented full-back appeared to merely give some of the home support a taste of their own medicine.
