Arsenal’s Saturday Premier League defeat to Newcastle has well been the talk of every football fan globally.
The Gunners in a hot-tempered game at the St. James’ Park came out on a wrong side of a controversial result as Newcastle subjected them to their first league defeat of the season.
In a fiery contest, Anthony Gordon scored the lone goal of the game, but the goal arrived in the most contentious manner. From a Jacob Murphy right-hand cross, former Arsenal midfielder Joe Willock sent in a left-hand cross, but the ball appeared to have gone out of play.
From that Willock cross, Gordon scored the winner! VAR conducted multiple checks including ball out of play, a foul by Joelinton on Arsenal defender Gabriel and an offside on Gordon. That check took over four minutes, but in the end, the infield decision which was the goal was maintained.
Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta was a visibly furious man after the game and during his post-match press conference, the Spaniard termed the decision by VAR to let the goal stand as ‘embarrassing and a disgrace’.
Following Arteta’s comments, Arsenal have declared support to their manager saying ‘PGMOL urgently needs to address the standard of officiating’.
“Arsenal Football Club wholeheartedly supports Mikel Arteta’s post-match comments after yet more unacceptable refereeing and VAR errors on Saturday evening,” the statement read
“We’d also like to acknowledge the huge effort and performance from our players and travelling supporters at St James’ Park.
“The Premier League is the best league in the world with the best players, coaches and supporters, all of whom deserve better. PGMOL urgently needs to address the standard of officiating and focus on action which moves us all on from retrospective analysis, attempted explanations and apologies.
“We support the ongoing efforts of chief refereeing officer, Howard Webb and would welcome working together to achieve the world-class officiating standards our league demands.”
That loss was Arsenal’s first in the league this campaign, and it sent them down to fourth, now three points behind current leaders Man City.
