Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta fumes at Brighton penalty - 'Never seen that in my life!'
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Mikel Arteta was "very disappointed" with referee Anthony Taylor's decision to award Brighton a penalty for a foul on Joao Pedro by William Saliba. Arsenal dropped points against the Seagulls, with Pedro converting the spot kick to earn Brighton a 1-1 draw after Ethan Nwaneri had given the Gunners an early lead. Taylor pointed to the spot after Pedro flicked the ball up in the air and Saliba made contact with his head as he attempted to win possession.
VAR did take a second look at the incident, but felt there was "sufficient contact for a penalty" and Pedro made it count. However, Arteta was not happy with the decision and told Sky Sports after the game: "I'm disappointed because we wanted to win the game.
"We started the game with good actions and a good goal. We knew it was going to be a challenging game. We gave too many balls away in the second half and we're very disappointed with the penalty. "I've never seen that in my life – and Saliba touches the ball. [It wasn't one] for me, no. We're playing every three days. I understand how much we want to [win], but in terms of the quality and the consistency and doing the simple things right against a competitive team, we didn't do enough today.".
However, former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp and ex-Brighton star Steve Sidwell both felt Taylor was correct in awarding a penalty. "Saliba gets himself in a muddle," Redknapp explained on Sky Sports. "Then it's just a reaction, to stick his head out to try and win the ball. It's chaotic and it's not what we would normally associate with Arsenal. Is it a penalty? Absolutely. You can see the contact.".
