Gunners defender praises Nasri over Barton incident

11:05am Monday 1st September 2008

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ARSENAL full back Gael Clichy was full of praise for new signing Samir Nasri in the way he didn't react to Joey Barton's attempt to wind the young midfield player up.

The pair had been involved in a minor incident in which Nasri had tripped Barton following an earlier challenge in which both players went for the ball.

The Arsenal crowd had little sympathy for the England midfielder when he came on following his prison sentence in which he served time for assault charges. He also has a pending four month-prison sentence following his training ground bust-up with former Manchester City player Ousmane Dabo.

He certainly didn't endear himself to the crowd either following his brief altercation with Nasri in which the former Marseille player was booked. Barton's attitude also didn't help due to his cheeky smile after the altercation with Nasri.

Clichy said: “We know the guy (Barton). He wanted to make something for his first game back and I don’t want to talk about it, but Samir did well and I am proud of him.”

In recent times few people have come to the defence of Barton, however most importantly Toon boss Kevin Keegan has. The Magpies manager accused Nasri of targeting Barton and had words with the Arsenal number eight, at the end of the game. He accused the Frenchman at full time of trying to provoke a reaction from the Newcastle midfielder.

However Arsene Wenger was quick to dismiss claims Nasri had intentionally set out to hurt the returning Barton. The Gunners boss said: ''Nasri was rightly booked for his challenge however I don't understand why Kevin Keegan was so upset with my player.''