Arsenal’s players were left feeling aggrieved during their 1-1 draw with Brighton when the Seagulls were awarded a controversial penalty by referee Anthony Taylor
Arsenal’s players were left feeling aggrieved during their 1-1 draw with Brighton when the Seagulls were awarded a controversial penalty by referee Anthony Taylor Arsenal’s players were left feeling aggrieved during their 1-1 draw with Brighton when the Seagulls were awarded a controversial penalty by referee Anthony Taylor
Jorginho has been told he was fortunate to avoid being sent off for kicking out at Joel Veltman as Brighton scored a controversial penalty against Arsenal.
The midfielder and his team-mates were left furious with referee Anthony Taylor for awarding the Seagulls a spot-kick after Joao Pedro and William Saliba clashed heads while jumping for the ball in the penalty area.
Pedro converted the penalty to earn Brighton a point in Saturday evening’s 1-1 draw. But the decision split opinion on social media, with a portion of Arsenal fans left furious.
However, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp has pointed out that things could have got even worse for Arsenal after Jorginho was seen trying to kick out at an opponent.
During a clip which showed Pedro dispatching his penalty, Jorginho was seen lashing out next to Veltman after the defender tried to block him running in for a potential rebound.
Redknapp spoke over the clip, which saw Veltman fall to the turf despite minimal contact, saying: “Jorginho was quite lucky here because if he catches him he could have been in trouble and got a red card.”
Redknapp’s Sky Sports colleague, Steve Sidwell, then added: “You can see it’s a bit of a lash out and if it’s more a connection [he could have been in trouble].”
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The Premier League released a statement confirming that Taylor – and VAR – had determined there was sufficient contact between Saliba and Pedro to warrant a penalty.
But the decision was slammed post-match by Mikel Arteta, who said he couldn’t believe a spot-kick was given.
The Spaniard fumed: “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.”
Brighton head coach, Fabian Hurzeler, disagreed, telling Match of the Day: “It is head to head but if it is another piece of the body everybody would say it was a penalty. Joao Pedro places the ball with his head and Saliba comes to late, therefore it was a clear one.”
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