Bukayo Saka felt Arsenal had a penalty incorrectly taken away from them against Fulham on Saturday, but manager Mikel Arteta felt differently.Â
Referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot late in the second half of the London derby at Craven Cottage after Kevin took down Saka in the box.
However, replays showed that the Brazilian winger got the ball and Taylor reversed his original decision after being sent to the pitchside monitor by VAR.
Saka and Arteta disagree over Arsenal penalty decision
“For me, it’s a penalty,” Saka told Sky Sports after the full-time whistle.
“I understand he got the ball, but I got a big contact on my right knee; any contact like that in the box is a penalty.”
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta admitted afterwards that he got worked up on the touchline during the lengthy VAR review, but ultimately felt it was the correct decision to overturn the penalty.
“I was getting animated,” Arteta said. “If it’s clear and obvious, that’s where VAR has to intervene. And it was taking so long.
“But then I heard it was nothing to do with the process, it was the screen that wasn’t working. I heard it probably wasn’t a penalty. So they probably made the right decision.”
In the end Arsenal did not need the spot kick to see out their third Premier League win on the bounce thanks to Leandro Trossard’s 58th-minute goal, increasing their lead over Manchester City at the top of the table to three points. Liverpool are four points adrift with a game in hand ahead of facing Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.
Saka added: “We believe. The mentality is simple; it’s “win in any context”. We showed it today; we started poor, and we won.
“It’s significant for us. For others it might not be, but for a few years we’ve come here and not got the results we wanted to everyone’s really happy in the changing room with today.
“We’ve struggled with Newcastle away, West Ham at home, and now Fulham away. We’re picking up points this season that we haven’t in other seasons.”
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