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Mikel Arteta has hit out at VAR over its lack of consistency after Gabriel Martinelli saw his goal ruled out against Manchester United in the 3-1 defeat on Sunday.
THE LOWDOWN: QUESTIONABLE OFFICIATING
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was not pleased with the level of officiating after Gabriel Martinelli’s early goal against Manchester United was ruled out.
The Gunners thought they had broken the deadlock in the 12th minute through the Brazilian. However, the goal was ruled out after VAR made referee Paul Tierney refer to an earlier collision between Martin Odegaard and Christian Eriksen in the build-up to the goal.
After a lengthy look at the incident, Tierney ruled that Odegaard fouled Eriksen and the goal was chalked out.
Arteta has now hit out at a lack of consistency with the manner of officiating from referees. He claims Aston Villa’s goal against the Gunners last week should not have stood after a similar foul to Odegaard’s.
THE LATEST: DECISIONS WENT AGAINST ARSENAL
Against United, Arteta believes there was a level of wrong calls against Arsenal and went on to cite several instances where VAR has missed or ignored key moments in the club’s recent outings.
As quoted by Evening Standard after the game, the Gunners boss said: “Lack of consistency. One is soft and last week they made a foul on Aaron but it is soft, it is not a foul.
“There is a foul on Bukayo [Saka], it is soft but not a penalty. Today it is a foul.
“The threshold in the first actions, you could see there is no yellow card because they want to keep a threshold in a big game. Really difficult to understand.”
After conceding a goal via Antony, Arsenal drew level through Bukayo Saka but United hit back twice on the counter attack, with Marcus Rashford grabbing a brace that put the game beyond doubt for the hosts.
Arteta rued his side’s lack of clinicality in front of goal and feels they should have gotten something from the game. The Gunners enjoyed over 60% of possession and more attempts at goal than the Red Devils but failed to make it count when it mattered the most.
He added: “I am really disappointed to lose the game especially with the way it went over the 95 minutes.
“We had some big periods where we were totally dominant and in total control. We created chance after chance but did not close the game. In any moment, when they have open spaces, they are going to hurt you.
“They had three big chances and scored three goals, we have numerous chances and we didn’t score enough. We had a period in the first 18 minutes when we struggle and did not control the game but after that it was all us.
“We lose the ball in a really difficult place and play a ball in an area we don’t have to and one pass and they are through. We should come here and win because of the way we play, because of the performance and the way we dominated the game.”
THE VERDICT: MOVE ON FROM THE DEFEAT
Admittedly, we’ve seen ‘worse’ challenges than that of Odegaard allowed to stand as legitimate this season and issues like this will no doubt put VAR and its legitimacy in the Premier League under much scrutiny.
That goal could have changed the complexity of the game but in the end, a more clinical United side took all three points with deserving goals of their own. The winning run comes to an end but we can go again starting from a home fixture against Everton at the weekend.
