Arteta confirms Arsenal Pro Ref meeting

Mikel Arteta said Arsenal used the meeting to discuss the decision and wider refereeing issues after Dan Ballard was awarded a penalty against Ezri Konsa.

Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Arsenal have held talks with Pro Ref over the penalty awarded to Sunderland last weekend, with the manager saying the purpose of the discussion was not to seek an apology but to establish whether the decision should have been different.

The controversy centred on the penalty awarded after Dan Ballard was judged to have been fouled, even though the incident showed Ballard pulling Ezri Konsa to the floor.

Arteta was furious despite Arsenal going on to win the match.

“I watched it 10 times. It’s a judo roll. It just cannot happen…this should never happen, it’s not fair, and I am sad, very sad, in that sense,” he said after the match.

The decision did not ultimately cost Arsenal because David Raya saved the penalty and Bruno Guimaraes scored two minutes later, putting the Champions on the path to another three points.

Had Sunderland converted, however, the task of securing the win would have been considerably harder.

Former referee Mark Halsey also believed the penalty should not have been awarded.

“When you look at an incident, you can clearly see in my opinion, that Ballard committed the first offence,” he said.

“He’s got hold of Konsa’s arm, so he’s pulled him around and they’ve both ended up on the floor. Then it looks like Konsa has tumbled into Ballard. For me, I think that Ballard has committed the first offence and it’s not a penalty.

“I know that they’ve set a high bar now in VAR getting involved but I think that was one where they should have got involved because Ballard committed the first offence.”

Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s game against Brighton on Saturday, Arteta was asked again refereeing.

“I am here to try and give my opin­ion, defend my club and give the very best to my play­ers,” he said.

“In order to do so, I need to respond in the most dir­ect and fair way. I will make mis­takes some­times but I will try and be as fair as pos­sible.

“We have a space to talk and give our opin­ions. It’s every­body’s duty to try and improve the game.”

Arteta then confirmed that Arsenal had met with Pro Ref, formerly PGMOL.

“We dis­cuss many top­ics and all of them are very import­ant,” said Arteta. “To talk, to give their opin­ions, and [it is] every­one’s duty to try and improve the game.

“It is a con­ver­sa­tion that will remain private.”

Asked whether Arsenal had received (yet) another apology from Pro Ref, Arteta did not say that they had.

“It is not about an apo­logy,” said Arteta. “It is about agree­ing that the decision should be dif­fer­ent or not.”

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