Arteta Rues Penalty Decision In Draw With Burnley
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has bemoaned a crucial penalty decision that went in Burnley’s favour in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Turf Moor.
Arsenal went ahead inside the opening ten minutes when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang beat Nick Pope at his near post but the home side found their equaliser against the run of play after Granit Xhaka’s attempted pass in his own box went in off Chris Wood six minutes before the break.
Arteta’s side should have had a penalty in the second half when substitute Erik Pieters handled Nicolas Pepe’s cross but VAR failed to intervene as their appeals were waved away. Peters once again was on the right side of VAR when a red card shown for appearing to block a goal-bound effort with his arm was rightly rescinded, with replays indicating the ball hit his shoulder instead.
Arteta expressed his disgust at the first of the two penalty incidents after the game as Arsenal dropped two points to remain in 10th position.
"It's a really tough place to come on a difficult pitch, but I have to say we should have scored the big chances we had," he said, having seen Dani Ceballos strike the post deep into stoppage time amid a host of missed opportunities.
"When you miss the chances we had, and you do not get decisions, it is complicated to win football games. If that is not a penalty, then someone needs to explain what one is.
"From what we produced, you have to come here and win. When you do not, you have to look at yourself. We completely dominated the first half but they make it difficult with a lot of long balls.
"We generated chances and we should have won by two or three goals. if you give any hope to any team in the Premier League, they are going to take it."
