Mikel Arteta expressed his frustration with the penalty decision that cost Arsenal vital points in a 1-1 draw against Everton at Goodison Park, a result that further dented the Gunners’ Premier League title hopes.
Arsenal, sitting second in the table, are now 11 points behind leaders Liverpool, having played one more match. Leandro Trossard put Arsenal ahead, but an early second-half lapse allowed Jack Harrison to go down under a challenge from Myles Lewis-Skelly, resulting in a controversial penalty.
“For me, it is never a penalty,” Arteta told TNT Sports, clearly unhappy with the referee’s call. The decision mirrored a similar incident earlier in the season at the same venue where VAR overturned a soft penalty awarded to Everton.
Arteta was critical of his team’s poor start to the second half:
“We gave the ball away and didn’t know what to do in that moment. We lacked control and allowed them to get back into the game.”
Despite dominating large portions of the match, Arsenal were wasteful in front of goal, with several missed chances and a strong performance from Everton keeper Jordan Pickford keeping the scores level.
“They didn’t create anything apart from the penalty,” Arteta added. “We had some big chances but didn’t finish them well.”
The result marked Arsenal’s 11th draw of the season, the second-highest in the league behind Everton’s 14. With Liverpool continuing their winning form, Arteta admitted:
“You have to win many more games to be champions, especially when there’s a team that keeps winning.”
Arsenal must quickly shift focus, as they face Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday.
“We rotated the squad a bit to manage minutes for key players ahead of Tuesday,” Arteta concluded. “But we still came here to get the three points.”
