Mikel Arteta has slammed decision by referee Anthony Taylor to award Brighton a penalty in Saturday’s Premier League game at the AMEX.
Arsenal led with half an hour remaining thanks to Ethan Nwaneri’s early goal but were pegged back in controversial circumstances.
Joao Pedro hit the floor when William Saliba attempted to clear the ball with his head but made only minimal contact before clashing with the Brighton player.
After a long deliberation, referee Taylor pointed to the spot and the decision was upheld by VAR.
Reacting to the decision Arteta posited that Saliba should not have been penalised after replays showed he did make minimal contact with the ball.
“I’m disappointed because we wanted to win the game,” Arteta was quoted on Metro. “We started the game with good actions and a good goal. We knew it was going to be a challenging game.
“We gave too many balls away in the second half and we’re very disappointed with the penalty.
“I’ve never seen that in my life – and Saliba touches the ball. [It wasn’t one] for me, no.”
Arteta, however, admitted that his players didn’t do enough to win the game.
He added:”We’re playing every three days. I understand how much we want to [win], but in terms of the quality and the consistency and doing the simple things right against a competitive team, we didn’t do enough today.”
Following the draw, Arsenal are now five points behind Liverpool who have played two games less.
The Reds can go eight points clear over Arsenal of they beat Manchester United on Sunday.
