Mikel Arteta jokes Arsenal duo have been "sharing wives" since public bust-up

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has made light of Oleksandr Zinchenko's on-pitch bust-up with team-mate Ben White on Tuesday night, joking the duo have been "sharing wives and everything."

The Gunners pair both featured in Tuesday night's 2-1 win away at Nottingham Forest, but despite picking up all three points tensions were clearly running high at full-time. White and Zinchenko had to be separated by Arsenal's set-piece coach Nicolas Jover, with cameras showing the two defenders pointing and shouting at each other.

It remains unclear as to what actually sparked the row, though some fans feel White took objection to Zinchenko's defending in the build-up to Taiwo Awoniyi's late consolation goal for Forest that threatened to spark a comeback. However, Arteta has since quashed any talk suggesting the feud has continued.

Speaking to the media ahead of Sunday's title showdown with Liverpool, the Arsenal boss joked: "They’ve been in the same house the past few days sharing wives and everything!

"You don't argue with someone if you don’t have a great relationship. That happens because you have the trust and chemistry to react the way they did."

Even in the immediate aftermath of the clash, Arteta was not interested in blasting either of his players for showing passion at the end of the game. "I love it," he added. "They are demanding more from each other.

"They are not happy with the way they conceded and they are just trying to resolve it. It got a bit heated. But that means that it's enough. Playing the way we played the result has to be bigger and the clean sheet has to be there."

The first footage of Zinchenko's fury suggested it was actually Arteta the full-back had the issue with. In actual fact, the Arsenal boss was simply trying