The Premier League have issued a statement, clarifying the reason William Saliba was penalised for a foul on Joao Pedro which resulted in Brighton being awarded a controversial penalty.
Mikel Arteta’s side led with half an hour remaining thanks to Ethan Nwaneri’s early goal but were pegged back in controversial circumstances.
Pedro hit the floor when Saliba attempted to clear the ball with his head but made only minimal contact before clashing with his opponent.
After a long deliberation, referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot and the decision was upheld by VAR.
‘The referee’s call of penalty for a foul by Saliba on João Pedro was checked and confirmed by VAR, who deemed there was sufficient contact for a penalty,’ a statement published on the Premier League Match Centre’s X account read.
Pedro, who scored the equaliser when the two teams met at the Emirates earlier in the season, spoke after the game and felt Taylor’s decision was the right one.
He said: ‘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.’
Arteta, unsurprisingly, saw the crucial incident differently arguing Saliba should not have been penalised after replays showed did make minimal contact with the ball.
He said: ‘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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