Arteta left BEMUSED by Brighton’s penalty slams VAR decision after Brighton’s penalty denies Arsenal the win against Brighton

Mikel Arteta expressed his frustration and disbelief over a controversial penalty decision that cost Arsenal two crucial points in their 1-1 draw against Brighton.

The game started positively for the Gunners as Ethan Nwaneri scored a well-taken goal to give them the lead. However, the match turned on a contentious penalty awarded against William Saliba, which Joao Pedro converted to level the score.

The incident occurred when Saliba was penalized for a clash of heads with Pedro in the box, despite appearing to make contact with the ball first. Arteta was left stunned by the decision, stating: “I have never seen a decision like this in my life. Saliba touches the ball. I asked the players if they had ever seen anything like it, and nobody had. When you analyze the incident, you can clearly see the distance between the players, Joao Pedro touching the ball, and then Saliba also touching it. There was some contact, yes, but it didn’t warrant a penalty.”

Arteta also criticized the speed of the VAR review, suggesting it was not thorough enough. “After just three seconds, they said they had already checked it. That seemed incredibly fast for such a critical decision,” he added.

While the penalty dominated post-match discussions, Arteta admitted that his team’s overall performance fell short of expectations. Reflecting on the match, he said, “I’m disappointed because we came here to win. We started well with some excellent moves and a fantastic goal, but we couldn’t maintain that level.”

He acknowledged the challenges posed by missing key players, saying, “We knew it would be a competitive and tough game, especially given the players we have lost recently. But we still managed to compete.” However, Arteta was critical of Arsenal’s second-half performance, citing unforced errors as a major issue. “It wasn’t our best day. In the second half, we gave away too many simple balls, which prevented us from controlling the game. That was disappointing,” he explained.

In his conclusion, Arteta expressed dissatisfaction with the officiating while emphasizing the need for his team to improve in future matches.