Mikel Arteta responds to Graeme Souness after he labelled Arsenal's Bukayo Saka a cheat

Graeme Souness made headlines by publicly branding Bukayo Saka as a cheat this week, with Mikel Arteta now speaking about the pundit's brutal war of words

Mikel Arteta has said that he is "not going to speak about opinions," in response to Graeme Souness's suggestion that Bukayo Saka is a "cheat."

Souness made headlines earlier this week after a segment on Piers Morgan's Football Uncensored show, during which, the former no-nonsense Liverpool midfielder accused Saka of diving "when he should be staying on his feet."

He said: "Your man Saka dives all over the place. I don't want to hear about him. The minute he looks like losing possession, he's down.

"He simulates a foul. Anyone who simulates a foul in my book would be a cheat.

"He dives when he should be staying on his feet. He's not alone. So Saka gets tackled, he screams as he's going down.

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"The referee thinks there's nothing in that but wait a minute, he's stayed down. And then worse than that, everyone in the immediate area - all Arsenal players - put their hands up and scream foul.

"The referee at that point panics and blows his whistle when it wasn't a foul - his first instinct was the right one. But he blows a foul because he's thinking, 'Wait a minute, something I'm not understanding here.'

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"Simulation is a form of cheating, yes. But it's all over football today. If you asked 100 people what is it you dislike about the modern game, 50 per cent would say simulation, another 50 per cent would say VAR."

Now, Arteta has made it crystal clear that he will not entertain the views of Souness.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday evening ahead of Arsenal's Champions League clash with Bayern Munich, the Spaniard explained: "I haven't heard it and I'm not going to talk about opinions."

When asked whether opinions become dangerous as players may develop a reputation from the outside noise, Arteta replied: "I don't know.

"We are open to opinions. It's part of our job, it's part of our roles and those opinions need to be respected - especially if they are done in a respectful way.

"And we are here to prove that we belong to this level, to this stage and certainly always have the intention and ambition to improve and be better. That's it."

Saka is expected to play a major part as the Gunners face the Bavarians at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday evening. Kick-off is slated for 8pm.