David Seaman praises ‘brilliant’ Arsenal star despite red card controversy against Tottenham

Jurrien Timber was hailed for his ‘brilliant’ performance in Arsenal’s win at Tottenham despite nearly getting sent off in the north London derby.

The Gunners claimed a 1-0 victory in a tense match last Sunday courtesy of Gabriel Magalhaes’ goal from a corner.

Key to the win was Mikel Arteta’s imperious defence which has conceded just one goal in the opening four Premier League matches – a feat only Liverpool can better.

Timber has finally taken his place in the back-line alongside Benjamin White, Gabriel and William Saliba, having missed almost all of his debut season with an ACL injury following his £34million transfer from Ajax.

And David Seaman is greatly impressed with the bravery of the 23-year-old’s displays following such a painful and lengthy spell on the sidelines.

‘Brilliant, really good,’ the legendary Gunners goalkeeper said when asked about Timber’s performance on the Seaman Says podcast, sponsored by Betway.

‘Because of the injury that he had, there’s always going to be something in your mind about, “is it strong enough yet”. No matter how much rehab you do.

‘You get into a couple of games but they’ll always be little tests on his knee but he’s coming through it.’

Timber did have one very awkward moment against Spurs when he committed a bad foul on Pedro Porro which lead to a brawl between all the players.

The defender was shown a yellow card but avoided a first-half sending off after VAR agreed with referee Jarred Gillett that the challenge was ‘reckless’ but ‘not serious foul play’, though not everyone agreed.

Seaman defended the Dutchman however, adding: ‘He was trying to do that trick where they put their foot on the ball and then roll it round.

‘That’s what it was. There was nothing malicious about that he just put his foot on top of the ball and it rolled and it didn’t roll with his stud showing.’

Timber will be back in action on Thursday night when Arsenal kick-off their Champions League campaign against Atalanta before a huge clash at top of the table Manchester City on Sunday.

But despite City’s star player Erling Haaland beginning the season in formidable form – nine goals in four games – Seaman is confident Arsenal’s defence can stop the striker after locking him out last season.

‘Gabriel and Saliba have done well against him in the past, they get quite physical with him. They know how to mark him, they’ve got a system.’

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