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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Dan Marsh

Fresh angle of William Saliba foul that led to Brentford equaliser changes everything

Arsenal fans have reacted furiously online after seeing a different angle of the foul that led to Brentford's controversial equalising goal in Saturday afternoon's 1-1 draw.

The Gunners dropped precious points in the title race after Ivan Toney cancelled out Leandro Trossard's opening strike in the 74th minute. Toney's goal, which came from the second phase of a Brentford free-kick was the subject of a lengthy VAR check before it was given the green light, however, it has since transpired that video assistant referee Lee Mason had forgotten to draw the offside lines which would've resulted in the goal being chalked off.

The decision left Arsenal fans seething on Saturday night - and a fresh viewing of the incident that led to the set-piece between Toney and William Saliba has done little to temper their frustrations.

Toney can be seen with his arms wrapped around the back of Saliba while backing into the Frenchman, who was penalised for the tussle. From the resulting set-piece, the Bees striker notched his 14th goal of the season to ensure Arsenal dropped precious points for the second week running after their shock defeat at Everton last weekend.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was less than impressed with the incident - which could have major implications in the title race - and bluntly insisted that the goal should have been ruled out for offside against Cristian Norgaard, who diverted the ball across the goal for Toney to convert.

The Spaniard said: "I've just looked at it back, and it is offside. You cannot block if you are offside, but it's irrelevant, it's gone."

Join the debate! Do you think the introduction of VAR has improved the game? Let us know here.

Ivan Toney appeared to infringe against William Saliba, who was penalised for the incident shortly before Brentford's equalising goal (Reddit: u/abanterbus123)

The PGMOL - the body responsible for match officials in English professional football who are now led by former top-flight referee Howard Webb - released a statement on Sunday morning apologising for the error at Arsenal and for a separate incident in the game between Brighton and Crystal Palace, where a fine strike from Pervis Estupinan was incorrectly ruled out.

The statement read: "PGMOL can confirm its Chief Refereeing Officer Howard Webb has contacted both Arsenal and Brighton to acknowledge and explain the significant errors in the VAR process in their respective Premier League fixtures on Saturday.

"Both incidents, which were due to human error and related to the analysis of offside situations, are being thoroughly reviewed by PGMOL."

Arsenal's lead at the summit of the Premier League is set to be cut to three points ahead of a seismic showdown with Manchester City in the midweek - and that means the reigning champions could leapfrog the Gunners if they can come out on top in their first league meeting of the season against Arteta's men.

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