Mikel Arteta was left perplexed by the decision to award Brighton a penalty as Arsenal dropped two points on Saturday.
The Gunners went ahead at the Amex Stadium after 15 minutes when Ethan Nwaneri scored the second Premier League goal of his fledgling career.
But the visitors were pegged back on the hour mark when Joao Pedro converted from twelve yards out to ultimately grab a point for the Seagulls.
The penalty call was a controversial one, however, as referee Anthony Taylor, following a long pause, pointed to the spot after a seemingly innocuous clashed of heads between the Brazilian and defender William Saliba.
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Arteta baffled by penalty decision as Brighton hold Arsenal
After the final whistle Arteta said he had never witnessed a decision like it in his life and felt Saliba should not have been punished after getting a touch on the ball. The Basque native, though, did admit that Arsenal did not do enough to win the game.
“I’m disappointed because we wanted to win the game,” he told Sky Sports. “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 penalty, Pedro 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.”
The result is a blow to Arsenal’s hopes in the title race. They now sit five points behind Liverpool in the Premier League table having played two games more.
“We wanted to win and we weren’t able to do that,” Arteta said. “We’re very disappointed with the [penalty] decision. Other than that, we’ll try to improve and prepare for our next game.”
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