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Mikel Arteta frustrated by ‘scandalous’ penalty calls in Newcastle draw.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has criticized the refereeing of his team’s Tuesday 0-0 draw with Newcastle, claiming two “scandalous” penalties were missed.
Throughout the game, Arteta was animated on the sidelines. He was shocked that his team did not receive a penalty when Dan Burn appeared to pull Gabriel’s shirt, and he argued with Eddie Howe about his appeals for another penalty when Gabriel Martinelli’s cross appeared to strike Jacob Murphy’s hand in stoppage time.
Arteta couldn’t believe that neither the referee nor VAR were interested in either incident.
“Extremely proud of my players. The way we played, the way we dominated the game, the way we tried, the way we continued, the way we controlled the game,” he told Sky Sports.
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“We missed in the final third. We had so many situations to finish better, and then we had two scandalous penalties.”
He continued: “They are two penalties, it’s very simple. I’m talking about what I’ve seen, now, and it’s two scandalous penalties.
“Newcastle wanted to set-up like this. It is not the way they play. They have not set-up like this against anyone else.
“When you cannot win you cannot lose and we kept a clean sheet and had a really good performance. Now we go again. I wanted to win the game are we drew it. We should have done some things better in the final third and we should have had two penalties to win the game.”
The point sees Arsenal extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table to eight points, but Manchester City can close that gap to five with their game in hand against Chelsea on Thursday.