A furious Mikel Arteta described Sunderland’s penalty in Arsenal’s 2-0 win at the Stadium of Light as “unacceptable”.
The home side were awarded a spot-kick in the 54th minute when defender Ezri Konsa was adjudged to have held Sunderland’s Dan Ballard by referee John Brooks.
“The referee’s call for a penalty against Sunderland for a holding offense by Konsa on Ballard was checked and confirmed by VAR,” read a statement released by the Premier League Match Centre.
The statement went on to cite the interaction between the on-field referee, Brooks, and the VAR.
“REF: ‘He’s on it at the near post facing the wrong way.’ VAR: ‘I’m happy it’s a holding offence. The foul is confirmed. Confirming the penalty decision on the field.”
David Raya saved Enzo Le Fee’s spot-kick and Bruno Guimaraes scored Arsenal’s opener just 121 seconds later, but Arteta vented his anger at the decision regardless of the result.
“The first question we have to discuss is this,” he said at the start of his press conference. “This is not acceptable at this level.
“It was a beautiful game of football between two teams, with an atmosphere in the stadium that was incredible.
“Sunderland are very organised, they are so good in many phases, they have great players and they create a lot of problems. We have to deal with all that in a really tough week.
“And on top of that, we have to go through what we did today, which in my opinion is not acceptable.
“I’ve seen it 20 times and I can’t find a way to understand how they think of giving a penalty in that situation, or how the VAR should intervene.
“So I don’t know what to think.
David Raya brilliantly saved Enzo Le Fee’s penalty at 0-0
“I regret that we have to discuss this after such a beautiful game, which at this level has the importance of this, because it changes the course of the season and can cost you the championship.
“At this level, with all the work we have done, this cannot happen.”
Arsenal’s victory was sealed by a late penalty from Bukayo Saka but Arteta, who was booked for stepping outside his technical area earlier in the game, was equally angry in his post-match interview with. TNT Sportsdescribing the incident as a “judo roll”.
“It is not a penalty in any case, in any context, in any league”, he added.
