- Former Gunners players Theo Walcott, Alan Smith and Karen Carney were in Sky’s report of Saturday night’s 3-0 win at Brighton
- Stelling, who left Sky last year, was not impressed with the balance between the experts
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Jeff Stelling has called out former employer Sky Sports for a ‘lack of balance’ in their punditry lineup and commentary on Arsenal’s victory in Brighton.
Mikel Arteta’s side returned to the Premier League top flight thanks to a comfortable 3-0 win at the Amex Stadium, with Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard on target.
Former Arsenal players Theo Walcott and Karen Carney worked as experts on Sky’s reporting, while another ex-Gunner, Alan Smith, provided co-commentary.
Hartlepool United fan Stelling, who presented Sky’s Soccer Saturday show for 25 years, was unimpressed with the line-up.
“Brighton v Arsenal has an ex-Arsenal co-commentator and both pundits are ex-Arsenal,” Stelling wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Jeff Stelling has taken aim at former employers Sky Sports over their choice of pundits for Saturday night’s Brighton v Arsenal Premier League match
The Sky line-up at the Amex Stadium included ex-Arsenal players Theo Walcott (right), Alan Smith (second right) and Karen Carney (second left)
Former Football Saturday presenter Stelling expressed his criticism on social media
Stelling said it is “no brain surgery” to get a balanced lineup of experts between the two teams
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‘Maybe Sky should be more balanced next time. It’s like using me in a Hartlepool game!!!’
Stelling responded to someone who said Smith was impartial: “Smudge (Smith) is great. So if you’ve decided to use it for commentary, choose two neutral people as experts. Or one from each side if you prefer. No brain surgery.”
Stelling, 69, left Soccer Saturday and Sky Sports at the end of the 2022-2023 season and has been presenting TalkSPORT’s breakfast show twice a week since December with Ally McCoist.
It is not the first time that Stelling has targeted his old employers since his departure.
In January he criticized Sky for not sending a reporter to Reading when fans planned a tennis ball protest against owner Dai Yongge during their League One match against Port Vale.
Fans threw hundreds of tennis balls onto the Select Car Leasing Stadium pitch and then invaded the pitch, forcing the referees to abandon the match.
Stelling wrote about
Smith provided co-commentary alongside Rob Hawthorne for the match at the Amex Stadium
Stelling criticized Sky for not sending a reporter to Reading to cover fan protests in January
‘Why no reporter there? Everyone knew there was going to be a protest.”
When a fellow I am a member of the public with the right to express an opinion.’
Last weekend, Stelling took aim at BBC’s Match of the Day following their highlights of Newcastle United’s dramatic 4-3 win over West Ham at St James’ Park.
Stelling was unfortunate that the show – presented by Alex Scott instead of Gary Lineker and featuring Martin Keown and Stephen Warnock as experts – did not discuss Newcastle’s second penalty.
The award was given after Kalvin Phillips was found to have kicked Anthony Gordon in the 77th minute, with Alexander Isak converting his second penalty of the afternoon.
Stelling also questioned why Match of the Day did not address a penalty that Newcastle won against West Ham last weekend when it was ruled that Kalvin Phillips had fouled Anthony Gordon.
“Interesting that MotD decided the second Newcastle pin wasn’t worth discussing, despite it probably being the most controversial decision of the weekend,” he said.
“Not @AlexScott’s fault, just a terrible production decision.”
Regular Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer hit back, saying: ‘I suspect they didn’t show it because it was a certain punishment and as you know time is limited on the show!’