The manager of Arsenal football club, Mikel Arteta has agitated against the Video Assistant Referee after his team suffered a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Everton at the Emirates Stadium on Friday.
Arsenal outplayed Everton in the Premier League game in which Mikel Arteta and his boys had 60 percent of the ball possession against Everton’s 40 percent. The North London club played so well that they had 14 shots, three of which were on target. Yet, Everton that had just a shot on target won the game.
The worst part of the game which Mikel Arteta was not happy about took place in the 53rd minute. Arsenal’s Dani Ceballos suffered a harsh challenge from Richarlison in Everton’s eighteen-yard box. The referee decided to award a spot-kick. However, the VAR overturned the decision after spotting that Nicolas Pepe was offside in the build-up to the challenge.
The side monitor showed that Pepe was slightly offside which can only be noticed by a computer system but that was enough to cost Arsenal a potential goal.
Unfortunately for the north London club, Richarlison put Arsenal under pressure by dribbling into the club’s eighteen-yard box before squaring in a low pass which Arsenal’s goalkeeper, Bernd Leno could not handle and had to push into his own net in the 76th minute.
After the own goal, either side could not score more goals and Everton ran away with the slim victory courtesy of an own goal from Leno.
In the post-match press conference, Mikel Arteta stressed that Arsenal played better than Everton and deserved to win. But noted that some decisions taken during the game did not favor Arsenal. Hence, he stressed that he has had enough of the VAR.
“This has been building up. Enough is enough. Today I have had enough,” said Arteta. “We’ve had many of them that nobody explains. It affects a lot of people, our job and most importantly our football club.
“What they [the match officials] do is behind the telephone. That’s what I cannot understand.
“We were the better team but there are certain decisions that we can’t control. To disallow a penalty 15 seconds before – [we had] eight or nine touches [after Nicolas Pepe was offside] – I saw it 10 times and I don’t get it. It can be taken the way they want. Zero control. Somebody has to explain that.
“We were the better team. We lacked some clear-cut chances and the edge in the final third. They are very well organized but we conceded the goal at the wrong moment and we had the penalty but it wasn’t given.”
💬 "I think we didn't deserve to lose the match. There are some things that we can do better and unfortunately there are others that we can't and they really affect the game."
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 23, 2021
📺 Watch the full interview with Mikel Arteta after #ARSEVE 👇
The 0-1 defeat Arsenal suffered at the hands of Everton has left the club on the 9th spot on the league table with 46 points in 33 games. The North London club might fall lower on the league table this weekend if 10th placed Leeds United win their game against Manchester United on Sunday, and 11th placed Aston Villa win their game against West Brom on Sunday.
As for Everton, the narrow victory has kept them on the 8th spot on the league table, 6 points above Arsenal which means that they will remain in the position throughout the weekend.
