Nearly a week on from Manchester City’s last-gasp win, former Arsenal defender Martin Keown is still angry about the way things panned out for his old side at the Emirates Stadium.
City left it late to grab all three points in North London last weekend as Rodri poked the ball home in stoppage time to extend his side’s advantage at the top of the Premier League.
The game wasn’t without its controversy, though, with Arsenal denied a penalty during the first half to potentially give themselves a 2-0 lead, before referee Stuart Attwell overturned his decision to turn down City’s calls for a spot-kick under VAR’s guidance after Bernardo Silva was brought down by Granit Xhaka.
Just a minute after Riyad Mahrez brought City level, Arsenal defender Gabriel was sent off after receiving his second booking, having been shown a yellow card for trying to scuff up the penalty spot just moments earlier.
The decision not to review the Gunners’ potential first half penalty after Martin Odegaard was brought down by Ederson, though, clearly still rankles with Keown, who also took issue with another perceived oversight from VAR in the game without naming it.
After talkSPORT host Jim White stated Arsenal’s defeat was largely down to Gabriel’s sending-off, Keown responded: “Well, you could say it was largely down to the referee not going to look at VAR for two very big important incidences. That didn’t happen.”
When challenged on whether the game finished with 10 vs 11, Keown replied: “Yes it did because Gabriel, as I say, lost his head.”
Arsenal were subsequently charged by the Football Association for the conduct of their players during the second half of the defeat last weekend.
The Gunners protested vociferously against referee Attwell after both the awarding of City’s penalty and Gabriel’s sending-off, despite both of the Brazilian’s bookings being easily avoidable.
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