'A witch hunt': Martin Keown questions talkSPORT presenter who suggests Mikel Arteta inspired latest Premier League rule change

Martin Keown has questioned Jim White after the talkSPORT presenter suggested Mikel Arteta inspired the Premier League's latest rule change.

He Arsenal The legend was a guest on White & Jordan when the topic of the new rule change came up, with The Telegraph reports that ball boys and girls will now be banned. from throwing the ball to the players.

Instead, Premier League stars must retrieve the ball from a cone to ensure the home team does not receive an unfair advantage.

A recent high-profile example of such a dispute came when Coventry boss Mark Robins celebrated his dramatic FA win over Wolves in front of a ball boy after he delayed returning a ball in stoppage time.

Introducing the topic, Jim White suggested that Arsenal boss Arteta's touchline antics were somehow related to the rule change, something Keown objected to.

Speaking on White & Jordan, Keown said: “What do you mean he's part of the reason they brought him in?

“Didn't we see something recently in the FA Cup with Wolves? I don't think Arteta was there, was he, Jim? It was his fault he was there?”

Conversation on the topic continued, but the Arsenal legend didn't finish his point, telling White: “I find it difficult that you tried to link Arteta to the ball boys issue.

“Now I have visions of Arteta running around trying to stop the ball boys from putting the ball onto the pitch.

“It happened everywhere. Each home team prepared the ball boys to feed the home team the ball and do everything possible not to quickly give it to the opponent.

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“So the ball will now sit on these little pucks and wait for someone to find a way to change the rules and we'll have to come up with another adjustment.”

Responding to a fan's message calling Keown biased for denying Arteta leaving his technical area to influence the ball boys, the former defender said: “It's not about a coach going out and getting the ball, it's about the ball boys. “.

Simon Jordan He then interjected while appearing to mock his colleague White, saying: “That's a point.

“We are combining two different issues and suggesting that the ball boys themselves should align with what would be fair and you have made Arteta come out of his technical area.

“To me, this seems like some kind of witch hunt, Jim. I think you should leave it.