Mikel Arteta has said Arsenal were wronged once again by officials after a laughable second-half penalty decision allowed Everton to snatch an undeserved point at Goodison Park.
Speaking after the 1–1 draw, Arteta was blunt in his assessment of referee Darren England’s pivotal call: “It’s for me never a penalty.”
Arsenal had taken the lead through Leandro Trossard’s clinical 34th-minute finish, following a poor giveaway by Idrissa Gueye and a composed assist from Raheem Sterling.
With Real Madrid looming in the Champions League quarter-finals, Arteta opted to rest several key players, including Martin Ødegaard, and Gabriel Martinelli, both of whom began on the bench along with Bukayo Saka. Ben White returned to the XI following a recent knee issue, while Jurrien Timber was among the substitutes as he recovers from his own.
At the break, Arteta introduced Martinelli and Saka in search of a more secure scoreline. Instead, controversy struck just minutes after the restart.
A long ball into the Arsenal half led to a challenge between Myles Lewis-Skelly and Jack Harrison, with the contact appearing minimal and taking place outside the penalty area.
Nevertheless, England pointed to the spot, and VAR Stuart Attwell upheld the decision.
“We were just insecure what we did, and then the decision of the penalty comes,” Arteta told TNT Sports. “And it’s for me never a penalty, but we will take it from there.”
Asked about the moment’s timing, he added: “Yeah, really bad because the game just started in the second half. You want to generate now a certain momentum, especially going ahead because they need to start to be much more aggressive. And we never got to do that because the game became really ...
