Mikel Arteta has slammed Anthony Taylor for giving Arsenal a penalty against Brighton, but admitted his side lacked enough “freshness” to sustain victory. Ethan Nwaneri’s second Premier League goal gave the visitors the lead in the first half, but Taylor was penalized for catching Joao Pedro in the face as William Saliba tried to head the ball away, giving Arsenal the lead. The director was furious.
“I have never seen a decision like this in my career. I asked the boys if they had seen it and no one has ever seen it before,” Arteta said. “If you look at the events, the distances, the players, João touching the ball and then Saliba touching the ball, there is contact. We checked (with the officials). Three seconds later they said they already checked. I said, “Looks like it’s early.”
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The 1-1 draw leaves Arsenal five points behind Liverpool, but they have played two more games than the leaders. More bad news for Arteta was that 17-year-old Nwaneri was sent off at half-time with an injury, captain Martin Odegaard only came on as a second-half substitute due to illness, and Kai Havertz was absent. Again, not involved.
Arsenal host Newcastle in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday, before facing Manchester United in the FA Cup next Sunday. Arteta admitted his players were struggling to cope with a hectic schedule of nine games so far in January, and admitted his players ran out of steam in the second half of the game against Brighton.
“I think we deserve a lot of credit for the way we ran, especially with all the circumstances, the injuries, the players missing,” he said. “It’s a shame because it wasn’t about how much effort we put in today, it was about the freshness and quality we had to provide in the second half to dominate the game better.”
Asked if there had been any changes to plans for the transfer window, he added: “There are a lot of circumstances and you can’t make a decision based on one day’s performance. Not just the players we lost, but also the fact that we had to take Ethan out.” I hope to be in a better position on Tuesday.”
