Arsenal are set to contact Howard Webb and Pro Ref today over the penalty awarded to Sunderland on Saturday, despite the Gunners going on to win the match.
Henry Winter reports that Arsenal are set to get in contact with Howard Webb and Pro Ref on Monday over the penalty awarded against Ezri Konsa on Saturday.
Sunderland received a penalty for a supposed foul on Dan Ballard, but it appeared more like Ballard had pulled Konsa to the floor by his shirt. Arsenal are now seeking an explanation for the decision.
Mikel Arteta had been furious about the call despite Arsenal’s eventual win, saying: “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”
It was only because David Raya saved the penalty and Bruno Guimaraes scored two minutes later that Arsenal ended up on the path to three points. It would have been significantly more difficult to secure the win if Sunderland had converted.
Former ref Mark Halsey agreed with Arteta that a penalty was the wrong decision, saying (via The S*n): “When you look at an incident, you can clearly see in my opinion, that Ballard committed the first offence.
“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.”
Former Swansea City defender Ashley Williams and ex-Spurs manager Thomas Frank also took the same view on Match of the Day.
“I think [the referee has] got it completely wrong,” Williams said. “Mikel Arteta’s right, it’s almost a perfect hip toss, like in judo. If you look at Ezri Konsa’s elbow getting driven down, he can’t do anything about it at this point, he has to roll over. If anything, this has to be a foul the other way.”
Frank concurred, adding: “I completely agree, I don’t think it’s a penalty.”
With Manchester City benefitting from an offside goal, it really hasn’t been a good weekend of decisions from an Arsenal perspective, which makes it all the more impressive the Gunners have ended it top of the Premier League.
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