Mikel Arteta slammed the Video Assistant Referee in his post-match comments after yet another decision went against Arsenal. His side lost 1-0 to Everton in the Premier League on the night, with the goalkeeper Bernd Leno scoring an own goal.
“This has been building up. Enough is enough. Today I had enough. We’ve had many of them that no one explains,”
“It affects a lot of people, our job and most important our football club.
“On the pitch performance-wise we were the better team, we controlled the game and we had some opportunities and openings. We had a clear penalty that was disallowed somehow and then we score an own goal.
“The penalty is clear, those decisions have been made after, I don’t know how or who by, we cannot see their faces to explain it. It’s the second time in two weeks.”
the Spaniard said.
A closely fought first-half saw both the Gunners and Everton create decent chances. However, neither side could find a breakthrough, and they went into the tunnel with the scores level at half-time. Arsenal thought they had a penalty shortly after the break when Dani Ceballos was tripped inside the box by Richarlison. However, the decision was overturned due to VAR’s intervention, as the technology flagged Nicholas Pepe offside in the build-up.
To pile on the misery, Everton took the lead against the Gunners at the Emirates late on. Arsenal goalkeeper Leno spilt a routine Richarlison cross into his own net, putting the visitors ahead on the night. Everton defended their lead well and took all three points home with them.
As a consequence of their latest loss, Arteta’s side remains ninth on the league table. However, they have fallen six points behind Everton, who also have a game in hand over the Gunners. Meanwhile, they can fall into the bottom half of the table if both Leeds United (10th) and Aston Villa (11th) win their respective games in hand.
