Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta fumes at the penalty awarded to Brighton, saying post-match ‘I’ve never seen a decision like this’.
Arteta took issue with a penalty decision he called “bizarre” as his side’s Premier League title challenge suffered a setback at the Amex on Saturday evening.
The Gunners, who sit 2nd with 40 points from 20 games, and are 5 points behind leaders Liverpool, who have two games in hand going into Sunday, looked on course to claim a precious three points thanks to 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri’s opening goal early on.
But then Joao Pedro equalised from the spot following an incident where he was accidentally headbutted by visiting defender William Saliba.
Brighton were searching for an equaliser just before the hour mark when Pedro flicked the ball up in the air in the Arsenal penalty area.
The forward nodded the ball into his own path, attempted to turn to his right, then came a clash of heads with Saliba attempted to clear.
Referee Taylor quickly considered what had happened as Pedro fell to the ground, pointing to the spot, and following a VAR check, Pedro sent visiting goalkeeper David Raya the wrong way, to make it 1-1.
Jamie Redknapp and Steve Sidwell debate whether Brighton’s penalty should’ve been given 🤔
What’s your take? Let us know! 👇 pic.twitter.com/BF89awDxos
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 4, 2025
🗣 "I've never seen something like this in my life."
Mikel Arteta says he's "extremely disappointed" about the decision to award Brighton a penalty 💬 pic.twitter.com/k2WLNXJklg
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) January 4, 2025
“For me, no.”
Mikel Arteta believes Brighton should not have been awarded a penalty for Saliba’s challenge on Pedro 👇 pic.twitter.com/9WWIYmVfQD
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 4, 2025
“They’ve gone backwards from what I expected from them”
Jamie Redknapp and Steve Sidwell react to Mikel Arteta’s post-match comments on Brighton’s penalty 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/VlgyjA8Mwv
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 4, 2025
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, speaking to BBC Match of the Day: “First of all disappointed with the result especially when we have started the game quite well and scored a beautiful goal. And then we lacked control and gave the ball away and we didn’t do the simple things well enough to be really on top of the game and have the dominance we required. The game was always open without really conceding anything.”
On the Brighton penalty: “We are really disappointed with the decision that leads to the goal because I have never seen something like this in my life. He touches the ball as well.”
On the second-half performance: “We did a lot of things not to the standard with the ball. So we didn’t get any momentum, we never got set in areas that after we could generate chances and counter press in the right moment. We conceded one chance when we had 10 players on the floor and [Yankuba] Minteh takes off. I think we have to do much better things than today and unfortunately we lost two points.”
On Ethan Nwaneri: “Really bad news because I think we’ve lost him, we had to take him off at half-time with some muscular issues.”
Arteta, speaking to Sky Sports: “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.”
On the title race: “We wanted to win and we weren’t able to do that. We’re very disappointed with the [penalty] decision. Other than that, we’ll try to improve and prepare for our next game.”
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: “Obviously we wanted to win the game. This is a tough place to come and they are a very good side. We started well, scored a beautiful goal and we were in control.
“In the second half we didn’t really grab the game or dominate enough to have certain moments and be more of a threat in their half. But defensively we did not concede much apart from the transition moment with Minteh.
“When you are playing every three days or less than that you cannot with the amount of injuries and situations maintain the level of performance and competitiveness. Today we lacked it in the second half.
“Today was not about fatigue. it was about the simple things that we have to do in ball possession to give chances and dominate the game in the right areas.”
On the penalty decision: “Bizarre. That means we have probably never seen it before. I haven’t in my career. So it is a new one.”
“We need a lot of physicality. We weren’t able to hold the physical level for 90 minutes”
Fabian Hürzeler compares Brighton’s fitness levels to his old club FC St. Pauli 😮 pic.twitter.com/DWhtFEAZNm
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 4, 2025
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler, speaking to Sky Sports: “I feel like I have to repeat myself all the time, which is a disappointing feeling. In the first half we weren’t as intense as we wanted to be. After the goal it was much better. The big word for us is consistency.
“When we look at Arsenal’s chances, they had one [big opportunity] during the game. Of course they were always dangerous from set pieces. We did well to come back but weren’t clean enough in the final third. Against Arsenal, you need to use your momentum to win the game.
“The game we want to play is intense, [we want to] press high. If you want to attack the box, you need to invest in deep runs. We’re not where we should be, but it’s a process.
“We have to accept [the result], keep working hard and do better than we did before. We need a lot of physicality for [our] kind of game. We were not able to hold that physical level for 90 minutes. We’re still working on that.
“It’s not that easy to make the players fitter, but it’s a long-term process.”
On the penalty: “Looking back, I think it’s a penalty.”
Hurzeler, speaking to BBC Match of the Day: “We think we deserved more. We had the better chances and weren’t able to score the second goal. In the end we have to take the positives.
“It was a clear penalty. 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.”
On Joao Pedro’s form: “Joao is a key player and also one of our leaders. Today he was our captain. Every player has bad phases in his development and we are there to help him and give him the right support and advice and I’m sure he’ll come back really strong.”
On strong showing after the break: “It is a big challenge for us to play consistently with this intentisity. We are only able to play in phases of the game. We have to improve and get fitter. We have to be mentally ready to play intense for 90 minutes. If we are not able to do it it will be difficult to win games.”
Hurzeler speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: “I repeated myself the last two, three four weeks when I said that we should have won this game or that game, and again today, that is what frustrates us.
“We are not able to play consistently, to press consistently, we cannot go for 90 minutes with the intensity that we showed in the second half.
“We are not clear enough with goalscoring chances. We have to work hard on ourselves and look in the mirror and see that we are responsible for the result.
“Arsenal did not create that many goalscoring chances. The only shot on goal was their goal, therefore we also see the positives. But we have to work on consistency.
On the penalty decision: “Clear penalty.”
On Joao Pedro: “He had a tough period but we know his quality. He is one of our leaders, he is in the leadership group. He was our captain today when Lewis [Dunk] was injured and he showed his quality.
“He got the goal but more importantly his performance was about how he led this young team. He was a role model, his work against the ball, counter pressing and sprinting back.”
On the coming games: “We want to be fitter and sharper, so we have to be physically and mentally on a different level and we need to work hard to get there. We as staff have to be ready to push the players so they are as ready as they can be. “
“It was clearly headed by Saliba,” said presenter Gary Lineker on MOTD. “Never ever have we seen a penalty given for head clashes.”
Danny Murphy: “They both head the ball before they clash. They are genuinely going for it. It’s a coming together.”
Jamie Redknapp on Sky Sports: “When you think about Gabriel and Saliba you think about calmness, but there was chaos in Arsenal’s defending there,.
“The defending was chaotic. Is it a penalty? Absolutely. You can see the contact. He heads him and he goes down; you can’t afford to do that in the box.
“We have seen a lot worse penalties than that one. They were rash in their defending. I can see why people say it’s soft, but he is hit on the head and goes down. It’s a foul. Arteta is entitled to his opinion, but they didn’t play well. That is the fact.”
Steve Sidwell: “It was a genuine attempt to get the ball, but Pedro gets there first. I think it’s a penalty. A clear penalty for me.”
Matt Upson: “A clash of heads. It’s an interesting one. How often do you see a penalty given away for an accidental headbutt?”
Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke, speaking to Sky Sports: “I think we did quite well. We shouldn’t have conceded the first goal. That shouldn’t happen to us, but you can see a lot of character in the boys. We need to be more consistent.
“We have a really young team. The average age of our team is 23. It’s tough sometimes, but our guys fight for everything. Maybe you need a bit more experience to manage the game.
“In some parts we are really good. Consistency is an important thing for us to get back where we need to be.”
Brighton goalscorer Joao Pedro, speaking to Sky Sports: “We started the game well. We could have won but got a point. We need to look forward.
“We conceded in the first half but knew we could win this game. We tried to score at the beginning of the second half. We wanted to win.”
On the penalty: “I tried to control the ball and then [Saliba] hit me. It’s good that I scored. I always try to be positive with goals and assists. I like the feeling [of scoring] and hopefully I’ll score more.”
Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke speaking to BBC Match of the Day: “I am not to be honest [thinking of it like a win]. We now have a streak of eight games without a win. Of course it is a good point against one of the best teams in the league but we also need to win games. The first half was not good enough from us and we concede a goal that can’t really happen in my opinion. You saw a different team in the second half.
“All season you have seen parts where we are really strong and good where we can be the best teams in the league then halves or parts in the game we are not and we belong to the worst in the league. Consistency is the word and we need to be better in the future.
“The intensity we played with. We really went toe-to-toe with them and then you see we are very strong. When we score we should maybe score another one. In the end it is a good result.”
On Brighton’s penalty: “I have not seen it back. It is hard to judge. I think there was small contact. Last week against [Aston] Villa there was small contact and it went against us.”
On Joao Pedro: “I think he was brilliant today. Not only for the penalty but for his work rate. We need that every game from him because he is one of our best players and he can lead us.”
Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori, speaking to Sky Sports: “I think we felt we could have done a bit better to manage the game and [manage] the goal we scored in the first half. We should have scored another one.
“I don’t know why we made so many stupid mistakes, but the good thing is that we play again in three days [against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup]. Maybe we were too low and gave the opponents too many balls.
“It’s not a big loss. We have to keep going now and win the next game.
“It’s not the moment to think too much about the title. We need to focus on ourselves.”
Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori, speaking to BBC Match of the Day: “You can see from my expression that I am frustrated and disappointed. We could have done better for sure.
“The good thing is that we have another game in two or three days and we are already thinking about that.
“The first 25 minutes was how Arsenal should play and then we could not dominate the game. From tomorrow we will forget about this game and think about the next one. The season is so long.”
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