Arsenal: Mikel Arteta bemoans 'bizarre' penalty decision as Gunners pay the ultimate price

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·4 gennaio 2025

Arsenal: Mikel Arteta bemoans 'bizarre' penalty decision as Gunners pay the ultimate price

The Gunners were pegged back in the second half at the Amex Stadium

Mikel Arteta says he has never seen a penalty like the one awarded to Brighton striker Joao Pedro during Arsenal’s draw at the Amex.

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Brighton were given a second-half penalty after William Saliba and Pedro clashed heads in the box when the Arsenal defender was trying to clear the ball.

Arteta was left baffled by the decision and said how he and his players had never seen one like it before.

“I have never seen something like this in my life,” said Arteta. “Bizarre. That means we have probably never seen it before. I haven't in my career. I asked the boys if they have seen it and nobody has before.

“When you look at the incident, the distance, the player, Joao touching the ball and Saliba touching the ball, you can see contact there. So, it is a new one.

“I checked and after three seconds they (VAR) said they already checked it. It seemed quick. I asked Anthony and he said he will have a look at it.”

Penalty awarded: Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot after a clash between William Saliba and Joao Pedro.

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Arsenal took the lead in the first-half through Ethan Nwaneri, who scored his second Premier League goal of the season despite being just 17.

The Gunners, however, failed to kick on after the break and were made to pay after Pedro equalised.

The draw means Arsenal closed the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to five points, but Arne Slot’s side have two games in hands.

“We did a lot of things not to the standard with the ball,” said Arteta. “So we didn’t get any momentum, we never got set in areas that after we could generate chances and counter press in the right moment.

“We conceded one chance when we had 10 players on the floor and [Yankuba] Minteh takes off. I think we have to do much better things than today and unfortunately we lost two points.”