Neal Maupay does not reserve his wind-up tactics only for the football pitch. The Premier League’s pantomime villain is just as dry-witted over a casual game of darts in a west London pub, a humorous nod in itself to his spat with James Maddison after he mimicked the Tottenham Hotspur playmaker’s goal celebration last month, and pipes up fittingly after an admittedly errant throw.
“Stop, I think you are going to break something,” he says, pointing towards a nearby television before bursting into laughter.
Needless to say, Maupay is entertaining company, embracing the well-earned reputation that precedes him, even if it has come under greater scrutiny of late. His spontaneous antagonism backfired against Tottenham, who mounted a successful comeback to defeat Brentford 3-2 before Maddison
