Mikel Arteta’s role in Arsenal ’s third goal against Watford on Sunday has come under scrutiny after former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher detailed a slip-up made by the refereeing team.
The Gunners boss became a ball-boy in the lead up to Gabriel Martinelli’s strike, leaping out of his technical area to catch a bouncing ball and immediately pass it to Bukayo Saka.
As a result of Arteta’s intervention, Saka was able to take a quick throw into the path of a sprinting Cedric Soares, who immediately played the ball into Martin Odegaard on the edge of the box.
The Norwegian flicked the ball into Alexandre Lacazette, who laid the ball back to Martinelli to fire a rocket into the top corner of Ben Foster’s goal and put Arsenal 3-1 up over the Hornets.
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It was a goal that proved to be crucial, with Moussa Sissoko netting late for the hosts to cut Arsenal’s lead to just one goal.
Arteta’s men were able to hold on to all three points though, with the Spaniard’s quick-thinking proving pivotal.
The Gunners boss declined to take credit for his actions, but did admit he was happy to contribute to his team’s win.
“If it helped the team a little bit to get what we wanted, that’s exactly what we need. Everybody can contribute somehow and I had the opportunity to do that, so it’s good,” Arteta said.
But Gallagher, who was a Premier League referee for 15 years, has now called Arteta’s actions into question.
And he has revealed that fourth official Simon Hooper could have stepped in to stop the Arsenal boss leaving his technical area to hand Saka the ball.
“The fourth official is the sole judge of the technical area, he’s meant to monitor the manager inside, he’s meant to stop him going outside and encroaching onto the pitch,” he told Sky Sports News.
“He’s allowed him to go out, whether he’s been too slow to go out and stop him I don’t know.
“He hasn’t really committed an offence because he’s become almost a ball-boy hasn’t he, he’s retrieved the ball.
“It’s come to him, he’s thrown it back, you wouldn’t expect him to let the ball go past him, you’d have moaned even more then.
“But we talk about this because it actually resulted in a goal, but that’s all he’s done, he’s guilty of coming out his technical area.”
According to the Laws of the Game, any coach occupying the technical area “must behave in a responsible manner”, with the fourth official able to alert the referee if any one breaks this rule.
The Laws also state that coaches “must remain” in the technical area in all situations other than “special circumstances”.
Arteta appears to have broken this rule and could have been sanctioned had Hooper or referee Craig Pawson stepped in.
The win could prove crucial at both ends of the table come the end of the season, with Arsenal having moved into the top four, while Watford remain three points adrift of safety.
