West Ham boss claims 2 Arsenal goals shouldn’t have counted | OneFootball

Julen Lopetegui has suggested two of Arsenal’s five goals resulted from incorrect decisions during West Ham United’s defeat on Saturday.

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Arsenal put in a dominant first-half display against West Ham United on Saturday, barring a three-minute spell in which the hosts scored twice.

In spite of those goals conceded, Arsenal went in at the break three ahead, having netted five of their own. But West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui believes two of those goals were unfairly awarded.

Starting with Arsenal’s opening goal through Gabriel Magalhaes, Lopetegui argued that Lucas Paqueta was fouled by Jurrien Timber just before the ball reached the goalscorer.

“The first half, believe me, [Paqueta] is fouled,” Lopetegui said. “Their one player (Timber) that bumps in the back of Paqueta with the only intention that he can’t jump, and he has success.

“There are limits. This is not [a] block. There is the only the intention for one free player to go and push in the back. He (Paqueta) can’t jump.”

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Arsenal were also awarded two penalties in the first half, and whilst Lopetegui didn’t appear to take any issue with the first, he suggested that the second shouldn’t have been given.

“And the second penalty, that more or less killed the match…If the second penalty is a penalty, I have to review exactly what kind of contact is a foul or not,” Lopetegui added.

“The rules, they have to be the same for all of us. If not, it’s not easy for us…”

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The second penalty was given for Lukasz Fabianski’s punch on Gabriel as the centre-back rose up for a header. Gabriel won the ball, and the goalkeeper got none of it, instead catching the defender with his fist.

The argument against the penalty was that Fabianski didn’t catch Gabriel full-on, but a glancing punch to the head after missing the ball should still be a foul.

West Ham had some dodgy decisions in their favour as well, particularly for the free-kick leading to their second goal. Declan Rice won the ball pretty cleanly, but Anthony Taylor still awarded a foul.

Arsenal were ultimately just the better side on the day, regardless of Lopetegui’s gripes with the big decisions.