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Unai Emery failed to shake hands with the opposition manager once again on Friday night, snubbing Wolves boss Rob Edwards after Aston Villa’s 2-0 defeat.
Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images
Following Arsenal’s 4-1 win over Aston Villa in December, Unai Emery was spotted sneaking away from the pitch before Mikel Arteta had the chance to shake his hand, breaking with the usual post-match customs for Premier League managers.
When asked about the incident, Emery claimed he’d waited for Arteta, but that he couldn’t wait any longer due to the cold. But footage of the event showed that Emery was lying, as he didn’t even pause on his way off the pitch, let alone wait.
Even so, there were fans who blamed Arteta for the snub, suggesting the Arsenal manager must have provoked the ‘isolated incident’ with his celebrations. Those theories were debunked on Friday, as Emery repeated the trick with a different manager.
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When the referee blew the final whistle at the end of Aston Villa’s 2-0 defeat away to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Wolves boss Rob Edwards could be seen looking around searching for Emery, but unable to find him.
Once again, the Villa manager had disappeared down the tunnel, leaving his assistants and the players to shake hands with the opposition without him.
When asked about his early disappearance, Emery said only to Sky Sports: “The match was finished.”
Technically true, but what usually happens when the match finishes is that the managers shake hands, so that’s not really an explanation.
Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images
It’s notable that Emery’s two snubs have occurred after poor defeats in which his team have underperformed against expectations.
Arsenal were always the favourites to beat Villa at home, but not 4-1. And 20th-placed Wolves were never expected to win 2-0.
There was no use blaming the cold this time, nor the opposition manager for taking too long. It’s clear Emery just let emotions get the better of him, and that he isn’t big enough to show respect to his opposite number when he comes up second best.