Graeme Souness criticised Bukayo Saka after Arsenal's win over Nottingham Forest, accusing him of play-acting and deceiving referees. He also said Arsenal players put pressure on officials to influence decisions.
Souness's criticism of Saka
The former Liverpool and Rangers captain said: "Saka pretends to fall everywhere. I don't want to hear about him. The moment it looks like he's about to lose the ball, he's already down on the ground. He's pretending a foul has occurred, and anyone who pretends like that is, in my view, a cheat."
He also said: "He pretends to fall when he should stay on his feet. And he's not the only one. When Saka is tripped, he screams as he falls. The referee thinks at first that there's nothing in it, but he waits a little and finds him still on the ground. Then it gets worse when all the Arsenal players near the incident raise their hands and scream that a foul has occurred."
What he said about referees
Souness said: "The referee then panics and blows his whistle even though it wasn't a foul, and his first instinct was correct. But he awards a foul because he thinks: hold on, there's something here I don't understand."
Turning to the latest incident, Souness said: "Play-acting (feigning injury) is a form of cheating, yes. But it's widespread in football today. If you asked 100 people what they don't like about the modern game, 50% would say it's the play-acting and the other 50% would say it's video assistant referee technology."
Saka's fouls and Arsenal's fixtures
Saka is the second most fouled player in the Premier League this season with 21 fouls, behind Elliot Anderson on 23.
GOAL reported that Souness made the comments on "Piers Morgan: Uncensored Football". Arsenal face Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday and then face Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.