Mikel Arteta: Never a penalty, I’ve seen it 15 times | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has said Arsenal were wronged once again by officials after a laughable second-half penalty decision allowed Everton to snatch an undeserved point at Goodison Park.

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Speaking after the 1–1 draw, Arteta was blunt in his assessment of referee Darren England’s pivotal call: “It’s for me never a penalty.”

Arsenal had taken the lead through Leandro Trossard’s clinical 34th-minute finish, following a poor giveaway by Idrissa Gueye and a composed assist from Raheem Sterling.

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With Real Madrid looming in the Champions League quarter-finals, Arteta opted to rest several key players, including Martin Ødegaard, and Gabriel Martinelli, both of whom began on the bench along with Bukayo Saka. Ben White returned to the XI following a recent knee issue, while Jurrien Timber was among the substitutes as he recovers from his own.

At the break, Arteta introduced Martinelli and Saka in search of a more secure scoreline. Instead, controversy struck just minutes after the restart.

A long ball into the Arsenal half led to a challenge between Myles Lewis-Skelly and Jack Harrison, with the contact appearing minimal and taking place outside the penalty area.

Nevertheless, England pointed to the spot, and VAR Stuart Attwell upheld the decision.

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“We were just insecure what we did, and then the decision of the penalty comes,” Arteta told TNT Sports. “And it’s for me never a penalty, but we will take it from there.

In his post-match press conference, he added, “I’ve seen it 15 times, there’s no way, in my opinion, that’s a penalty. Because if there is, then O’Brien has to be out and Everton has to play with 10 men, that’s clear. After that again, we dominated the game.”

Asked about the moment’s timing, he added: “Yeah, really bad because the game just started in the second half. You want to generate now a certain momentum, especially going ahead because they need to start to be much more aggressive. And we never got to do that because the game became really different.”

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This was not the first time Lewis-Skelly had been at the centre of controversy involving England. Earlier in the season, the same referee, acting as VAR, failed to overturn a red card given to the teenager against Wolves – a decision later rescinded on appeal within 45 minutes.

Arsenal fans also need no introduction to Attwell.

The match itself never reached the heights of a Premier League classic, but Arsenal dominated possession and limited Everton to almost nothing in open play. Even Everton’s own players didn’t appeal for the penalty, further fuelling the post-match criticism.

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Reflecting on the performance, Arteta remained frustrated by how the match slipped away. “Well, especially with the result, very unhappy. Very tough place to come. I think that it’s very physical, very direct. If you don’t deal with that constantly well, you never get any momentum, so it’s very difficult.”

Pressed on Everton’s physical style, Arteta said: “It’s always like this and that’s a big strength of theirs. You have to deal with that. You want to dominate the game and win it and play the game. You have to deal with that like with many other teams in the Premier League.”

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On what Arsenal did well, he said: “Well, in certain moments, we dealt with that really well. We had some very big transitions that we didn’t finish quite well, apart from the goal. And in many moments, I mean, they didn’t generate anything at all. So it’s very disappointing that from not generating anything, we just conceded a goal.”

It was Arsenal’s 11th draw of the season, a tally that Arteta conceded was too high in the context of a title race. “It really is. You have to win many more games, especially when there is a team [Liverpool] that constantly is winning.”

There was at least one positive – the return to the pitch of several key players ahead of the Real Madrid first leg at the Emirates on Tuesday. “Yeah, that’s all good, but we wanted the three points,” Arteta said.

“You want to get everything in the way you plan it. We did a lot of good things in the game. We managed to give minutes to a lot of players as well and rest some players, but we dropped two points.”

Another two points lost. Another referee at the centre. For Arteta, it was clear. This was never a penalty. But for Arsenal, once again, that now counts for nothing.