‘I listen to him complain a lot’ – Conte launches incredible attack on Arteta and tells him to focus on Arsenal

TOTTENHAM boss Antonio Conte launched a sensational attack on Mikel Arteta after his side eased past Arsenal 3-0 on Thursday.

Spaniard Arteta was left fuming after the hosts were awarded a penalty early on and Rob Holding was sent off for two bookable offences.

The Arsenal boss claimed after the game that if he commented on the decisions he would be "suspended for six months" in full Jose Mourinho style.

When asked by  what he made of the game, Arteta bluntly hit back: "Well if I say what I think then I'm suspended for six months. So I cannot say.

"I'm allowed to give my interpretation of what happened in the game but I don't know how to lie, and I don't like lying... so I prefer not to say what I think."

Then when quizzed on Holding's red card he added: "I cannot say what I think, I will be suspended."

Conte, however, didn't have any time for his counterpart's complaints.

When asked himself about Holding's dismissal, the Italian hit out that Arteta "has to be focused more on his team and not complaining".

He then added: "He has just started his work. He has to be calm... To listen to a coach complaining a lot of times is not good."

Conte continued his stunning attack on Arteta by claiming he has listened to the Gunners boss "complaining" for the last six months.

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He added: "In six months I have listened to him complaining a lot."

The Spurs gaffer then hit out at Arteta's quibbles with fixture congestion, pointing out that tonight's game had to be rearranged.

He said: "He complained about the fixtures, no? At the time I said it's not good to complain because Arsenal were good to postpone a game in incredible way for positive Covid cases."

The original game, scheduled for January 16, was postponed following a request from Arsenal.

The Premier League accepted the request on the grounds of a mixture of injuries, suspensions and Covid preventing them from naming a 14-man squad.

Spurs though were left fuming by the decision.

And Conte also said: "To see a game postponed in this strange way made us angry, but it is the past. I prefer to play Arsenal with all my players available.

"I think my players were also a bit angry for the first leg, because they lost 3-1 at the Emirates."