Mikel Arteta says Arsenal were left with “huge anger and disappointment” after Brentford’s controversial equaliser on Saturday and has lambasted VAR official Lee Mason for not understanding his job.
Arsenal were leading 1-0 against Brentford after Leandro Trossard’s opener and they were set to go eight points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
Ivan Toney equalised for the Bees and that led to the game finishing 1-1, but it has since been revealed VAR official Mason missed the offside call as he did not draw the correct lines.
Manchester City, who beat Aston Villa on Sunday, are now three points behind Arsenal and they can leapfrog the Gunners if they beat them at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.
“We ended the [Brentford] game after analysing all the evidence that we had on the images with a huge anger and disappointment because that wasn’t a human error, that was a big, big, big, not understanding your job and that is not acceptable. I am sorry,” said Arteta.
“That cost Arsenal two points and that’s not going to be restored. So we are going to have to find those two points somewhere else in the League. But at the same time we appreciate the apology, we appreciate the explanations, that were really open to be fair.
“And we got a lot sympathy from a lot of colleagues in the industry, in football, that they are talking that we cannot play with integrity in the game with the way that we do. And that’s it and we have to move on.
“That certainly has made the players, the staff and the fans even stronger and with more desire to pass this hurdle that they put on us. So we are ready for it.”
Arteta has urged his side to use the incident as fuel going forward as they look to win their first Premier League title since 2004.
“That was the reaction straight away from everybody,” he said. “We cannot do anything about it. Don’t use it as an excuse. Try to move on and go for it, that’s it. Everybody makes errors and mistakes and we are part of that, me the first one.
“But that was something else. I wasn’t having it, the club wasn’t having it and I think it’s clear - the consequences of what happened. I will only be satisfied if they give us the two points back, which is not going to be the case.
“I appreciate and I think they were really sincere, open and genuine apologies and explanations, which is really good. But it doesn’t take the fact that we have two less points than we should have on the table.”
It was a bad weekend for VAR, with errors also taking place in the Brighton vs Crystal Palace game and the Chelsea vs West Ham match.
Arteta, however, believes that things can improve under Howard Webb, who has been in charge of PGMOL since December.
“When I see the reaction for example that Howard Webb had, the PGMOL had, the Premier League had and how genuine it was. That anger,” said Arteta. “They want to do the best they can and they understand everything that is at stake.
“I think at the end it will help and hopefully we can use that to make the game better and have more integrity on it, better professionals and really pay attention to details that matter because at the end of the day it has a significant output on results.”
