Arsenal are reportedly ‘seething’ over the VAR calls that cost them the game against Crystal Palace on Sunday but they might be slightly misguided in their thinking.
“Arsenal’s hierarchy are seething about the decisions and believe the anger of their supporters would have been channelled in the same direction were it not for the fall-out from captain Granit Xhaka’s behaviour as he was substituted off, which the club admit was unjustifiable,” David Ornstein wrote in his Athletic piece on Monday.
He also explained that Arsenal were expected to raise the issue ‘aggressively’ at the directors of football meeting that was to take place on Monday morning.
Arsenal are right to be furious at the decisions, especially following on from the denial of a penalty last week.
But would Sokratis’s goal and three late points have deflected that much away from the displeasure among fans at Unai Emery’s football?
I’m not so sure.
Just a few weeks ago we were riding high in the table but the majority of fans knew it was only a matter of time before reality bit hard because Arsenal, although they were collecting points, were simply dreadful.
A last-gasp win against Crystal Palace at home would hardly have been a cure-all salve.
Does the evidence back claims Arsenal are being screwed by VAR this season? I tried to find out and you can read the results of that here.