James Maddison hits back as Bukayo Saka after he stole his darts celebration claiming ‘he must’ve still been doing it when I turned him for the first goal’ as the England team-mates square off in thrilling north London Derby
- Bukayo Saka stole James Maddison’s trademark darts celebration on Sunday
- Saka was seen throwing a pretend dart during the Arsenal’s 2-2 draw vs Spurs
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James Maddison has hilariously hit back at Bukayo Saka after he mimicked the England midfielder’s famous darts celebration.
It came during Sunday’s thrilling north London derby that saw the pair both play an integral part in the 2-2 draw.
Saka orchestrated the first goal for Arsenal, hitting a shot at the goal with Cristian Romero deflecting the ball into the back of the net to give Arsenal the lead.
Despite it going down as an own goal, the 22-year-old wheeled away in elation and proceeded to pretend to throw a dart at a dart board.
But he may have been made to regret his actions not long after, with the Spurs midfielder going one-on-one with Saka, before dropping his shoulder, rounding the winger, and pulling the ball back to find Son Heung-min in the penalty area.
Bukayo Saka (pictured) stole James Maddison’s celebration during the North London derby on Sunday
The 22-year-old appeared to poke fun at Maddison, pretending to throw a dart at a dart board after he scored
Son made no mistake in firing the ball into the back of the net, bringing the away side on to level terms just before half-time.
After the match, Maddison was asked how he felt about his England team-mate copying his celebration and delivered a fantastic response back to Saka.
‘Me and Bukayo had a bit of banter, a bit of trash talking on international duty,’ he said.
‘And I got told he did the darts celebration – he must have still been doing it when I turned him for the first goal.’
In a separate video, the 26-year-old can be seen walking away from the changing rooms and was asked by a reporter: ‘A quick 501 at Ally Pally against Bukayo Saka?’
Maddison responded laughing: ‘His action was terrible though wasn’t it!’
The Spurs midfielder is known for his interest in darts, having been spotted at the World Darts Championships at Alexandra Palace last December.
Saka would go on to score another, with Romero handling the ball inside the box, with the England forward making no mistake from the penalty spot, to claim his fourth Premier League goal of the season.
But as before, Mikel Arteta’s side could not maintain their winning margin, with Maddison stealing the ball off Jorginho in midfield before playing in Son, who guided the ball past David Raya in net to level things up at 2-2.
Spurs have won only once against Arsenal in their last five meetings, but reflecting on the hard-fought draw, Maddison said: ‘When you come to a quality team like Arsenal heads can drop, the momentum can shift when you concede a goal, but we kept playing.
‘Even in the early stages we gave the ball away in difficult areas of the pitch, but bravery is playing the way we play even if mistakes happen.
But maddison (left) has hilariously hit back at Saka (right) claiming that he ‘must have still been doing it when I turned him for the first goal’ (pictured above)
Maddison (right) went on to assist Son Heung-min (left) twice to help Spurs win a point against Arsenal
‘We did that and for large parts of the game we dominated and scored two good goals.’
Arteta, meanwhile admitted he was frustrated with the result at full-time.
He said: ‘We wanted more but you have to make the most out of it and we didn’t. The moments where we had dominance of the game and control, we conceded the goals and that was a big, big blow.
‘Playing in front of this crowd in a derby doesn’t get much better than that, and I think the players were so excited but sometimes you can be too hyped because then we lacked some composure on the ball to get more control, but we have to take the draw, there is nothing else we can do.’
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