Jamie Carragher says Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is “becoming the Sir Alex Ferguson of the Premier League” after he slammed the penalty awarded against his side in Saturday’s 2-0 win at Sunderland.
A furious Arteta described the second-half penalty save as “unacceptable” after referee John Brooks pointed to the spot when Arsenal defender Ezri Konsa brought down Dan Ballard.
The Gunners then requested an explanation from the arbitration body Pro Ref for the penalty award.
Arteta’s anger has led Carragher to draw comparisons with former Manchester United boss Ferguson, who was not afraid to publicly criticize match officials even though his side were the dominant domestic force.
Arsenal did not concede a penalty in last season’s title-winning campaign and Carragher believes Arteta “wants” to use his status as Premier League champions to influence referees’ decision-making.
He said Monday Night Football: “That was Mikel Arteta becoming the Sir Alex Ferguson of the Premier League now.
“He’s the don at the moment; he’s the Premier League champion.
“A lot of new managers around… he’s been in his role for six or seven years, and he feels he’s in a position of power to say, ‘Yeah, it wasn’t a penalty’. And I don’t think it was a penalty.
“But it would be interesting to see how long it takes another referee to award a penalty against Arsenal in a similar situation.
“I thought it was very interesting in the press conference; one of the reporters pointed out, despite the question you asked him, he kept going back to the penalty spot, so he was determined to get the narrative out that it wasn’t going to happen to his club again.
“But this is a manager – we’ve seen it with Sir Alex Ferguson, we’ve seen it with Jose Mourinho.”
Former Luton, Middlesbrough and Wolves boss Rob Edwards was the special guest at MNF and agreed with Carragher’s view of Arteta.
He said: “I think Jamie’s right. He’s put himself in a position now where he’s looking after his team and his football club, and people are going to listen to the Premier League-winning manager, aren’t they?
“They’re going to listen to him; he’s a powerful voice out there now.”
