Arsenal felt aggrieved to have conceded a penalty when William Saliba was adjudged to have fouled Brighton’s Joao Pedro in the area, but Jamie Redknapp has no sympathy for them
Arsenal felt aggrieved to have conceded a penalty when William Saliba was adjudged to have fouled Brighton’s Joao Pedro in the area, but Jamie Redknapp has no sympathy for them Arsenal felt aggrieved to have conceded a penalty when William Saliba was adjudged to have fouled Brighton’s Joao Pedro in the area, but Jamie Redknapp has no sympathy for them
William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes need to take responsibility for Brighton’s equaliser, according to Jamie Redknapp, who has dismissed Arsenal’s gripes about the penalty decision.
Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw by Brighton on Saturday evening after Ethan Nwaneri’s strike was cancelled out by Joao Pedro’s penalty. Pedro won the spot-kick after Saliba was adjudged to have made contact with his head while trying to head the ball inside the area.
The Premier League match centre said that VAR “deemed there was sufficient contact for a penalty” and upheld Anthony Taylor’s on-field call, but Arsenal supporters were seething, while Mikel Arteta said he had never seen a decision like it. However, former Liverpool midfielder Redknapp believes the incident was completely avoidable and pointed the finger at Arsenal’s centre-backs.
“When I always think about Gabriel and Saliba I always think of a calmness but as this unfolds there’s a little bit of chaos to their defending,” he said while analysing it on Sky Sports. “Gabriel gets himself in a mess as he’s embroiled with [Yankuba] Minteh. Minteh wins the ball, it’s rash, he’s all over the place.
“Then you can [see] Saliba faces him up and gets in a muddle. Then it’s just [a] reaction – he sticks his head out trying to win the ball. It’s chaotic and it’s not normally what we associate with them. Is it a penalty? I think absolutely. He definitely knocks him to the floor. It was enough to send him down and it was the right decision.”
The draw ended Arsenal’s run of three successive wins in the Premier League and saw them drop two points while trying to close the gap to Liverpool at the top of the table. Arne Slot ’s side have a five-point cushion ahead of their game against Manchester United on Sunday, as well as another game in hand.
Arteta was unhappy with the decision by referee Taylor, but accepted it was always going to be a tough ask for his depleted side to win at Brighton during such a busy period. “I’ve never seen a decision like this in my career,” he said. “I asked the boys, and they have never seen anything like it.
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Image:
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“I’m disappointed because we wanted to win the game. We started the game with good actions and a good goal. We knew it was going to be a challenging game.
“We gave too many balls away in the second half and we’re very disappointed with the penalty. 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.”
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