Arteta rages at Brighton penalty award: ‘I’ve by no means seen a choice like this’

Mikel Arteta hit out at Anthony Taylor for awarding the penalty that pegged again Arsenal at Brighton however admitted his aspect lacked sufficient “freshness” to carry on for victory. Ethan Nwaneri’s second Premier League purpose had given the guests the lead within the first half however the Arsenal supervisor was left raging when William Saliba was penalised by Taylor for catching João Pedro within the face as he tried to move the ball away.

“I’ve by no means seen a choice like this in my profession. I requested the boys if they’ve and no one has seen it earlier than,” stated Arteta. “If you have a look at the incident, the space, the participant, João touching the ball, then Saliba touching the ball, you’ll be able to see contact there. I checked [with the officials]. After three seconds they stated that they had already checked. It appears fast.”

The 1-1 draw leaves Arsenal 5 factors behind Liverpool however having performed two matches greater than the leaders. There was extra dangerous information for Arteta, with the 17-year-old Nwaneri pressured off at half-time with damage and Martin Ødegaard, the captain, capable of come on solely as a second-half substitute due to sickness, whereas Kai Havertz was once more not concerned.

Arsenal host Newcastle within the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday earlier than Manchester United go to within the FA Cup subsequent Sunday. Arteta admitted they’ve to this point struggled to deal with the hectic schedule of 9 matches in January and acknowledged that his gamers ran out of steam within the second half in opposition to Brighton.

“The run that we’re on particularly with all of the conditions, accidents and gamers that we’re lacking – I believe the crew deserves a number of credit score,” he stated. “It’s disappointing as a result of it’s not about how a lot effort we put in in the present day but it surely was extra in regards to the freshness and the standard that we’ve got to ship within the second half to dominate the sport significantly better.”

Requested whether or not his plans for the switch window had modified, he added: “We can not decide based mostly on one efficiency for at some point with a number of circumstances, not solely the gamers that we misplaced however the truth that we needed to take Ethan out. Hopefully on Tuesday we will likely be in a greater place.”