Arsenal icon Lee Dixon baffled his ITV co-commentator Sam Matterface during the Gunners’ Community Shield clash with Manchester City on Sunday, having brought up the teddy bears that belong to his grandson. The pair had been covering the English football season’s traditional curtain-raiser when their chat took a sudden turn when Dixon took a moment to speak about stuffed animals.
Gabriel Martinelli had swung in a wide free-kick that amounted to nothing around the hour mark as last season’s top two in the Premier League had failed to break the deadlock despite several chances.
Dixon then decided to open up on his reasons for enjoying commentating on Arsenal’s Brazilian forward. “Makes me smile when I say Martinelli because that’s the name of my grandson’s teddy,” he said live on air before reeling off the names of his other teddy bears.
Matterface bluntly responded with “Cheers” as there was little response he could give to Dixon’s admission, likely taken aback as rarely do soft toys get discussed during games involving the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City.
Dixon then risked the wrath of his former fanbase, questioning why the Arsenal faithful were applauding new record signing Declan Rice for tracking back and putting an important tackle in. “I don’t understand why the Arsenal fans are applauding him,” he said, citing it as the reason why Mikel Arteta and Edu were prepared to pay £105million to sign the former West Ham captain.
The conversations between Dixon and Matterface had come during a second half that saw the tempo dramatically slow down before Cole Palmer put Pep Guardiola’s side into the lead with 15 minutes remaining.
Kieran Tierney had been unable to successfully cut out a through ball before Kevin De Bruyne teed up fellow substitute Palmer to curl a stunning effort past Aaron Ramsdale into the top corner – the expected matchwinner was then named man-of-the-match by Dixon despite playing less than 30 minutes.
City could have gone further ahead shortly after as Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez broke forward, only for the former to poke just wide after coming off the bench shortly before Palmer.
Then from a corner Rodri’s effort was well saved by Ramsdale who used his agility to react well to the header in order to prevent the deficit from getting any bigger.
Leandro Trossard then equalised in the 100th minute when his deflected strike from the edge of the box sent Arsenal fans into raptures as Stefan Ortega had no chance of preventing the equaliser.