Mikel Arteta criticized Anthony Taylor for awarding the penalty that put Arsenal back at Brighton, but admitted his side lacked enough “freshness” to hold on to victory. Ethan Nwaneri’s second Premier League goal had put the visitors ahead in the first half, but the Arsenal manager was left angry when William Saliba was penalized by Taylor for grabbing João Pedro in the face while He tried to head the ball away.
“I have never seen such a decision in my career. I asked the boys if they had done it and no one had seen it before,” Arteta said. “When you look at the incident, the distance, the player, João touching the ball, then Saliba touching the ball, you can see contact there. I checked (with the officials). After three seconds, they said they had already checked. Seems quick.
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The 1-1 draw leaves Arsenal five points behind Liverpool but having played two matches more than the leaders. There was more bad news for Arteta, with Nwaneri, 17, forced to come on at half-time due to injury and Martin Ødegaard, the captain, unable to come on only in the second half due to illness, while Kai Havertz was absent. again not involved.
Arsenal host Newcastle on Tuesday in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final before Manchester United visit in the FA Cup next Sunday. Arteta admitted they have so far struggled to cope with the busy nine-match schedule in January and acknowledged his players ran out of steam in the second half against Brighton.
“The race we’re in, especially with all the situations and the injuries and the players we’re missing, I think the team deserves a lot of credit,” he said. “It’s disappointing because it’s not about the effort we made today, but rather the freshness and quality we need to offer in the second half to dominate the match much better.”
Asked if his plans for the transfer window had changed, he added: “We can’t make a decision based on one performance on one day with a lot of circumstances, not only the players we lost but the fact that we had to eliminate Ethan. Hopefully on Tuesday we will be in a better position.
theguardian