Mikel Arteta will get a chance to air his grievances with PGMOL boss Howard Webb, who will tour every Premier League club.
The Arsenal boss was left fuming earlier this week as his side had two penalty appeals waved away against Newcastle. The Gunners went in search of a winner but saw a pull by Dan Burn and a handball both waved away by referee Andrew Madley and VAR.
It meant Arsenal dropped two points and Arteta will now get a chance to raise any issues with Webb, who will sit down for face-to-face talks with every Premier League manager this month. Webb is new to the role and wants to improve the standard of officiating as well as the role of VAR - both coming under major criticism.
Arteta lamented both the on-pitch referee and VAR for failing to award his side a spot kick on Tuesday night. He said: “[I am] Extremely proud of my players. The way we played the game, the way we controlled the game and we missed in the final third. We had so many situations to finish them better and then we had two scandalous penalties.”
When he was pressed over what penalty decision he felt most aggrieved by, Arteta added: “It is not about which one was stronger, we had two penalties. I am not talking about the referee, I am talking about what I saw and that was two scandalous penalties."
Webb has previously worked in a leading role with MLS referees - a role he took up in 2017. The former referee, who took charge of the 2010 World Cup final in South Africa, is hoping to bring across some of the ideas implemented across the Atlantic, who included the releasing of VAR audio.
He said last month: "I hope we get to the point where we are able to share some of the audio. Even if people don't necessarily agree with the final decision, people can understand the process and the rationale and be much more accepting of the decision."
Despite VAR continuing to divide opinion, Webb maintains that his immediate aim is to improve on-pitch officiating. He added: "I think the number one thing I want to do is ensure that people understand that good officiating starts on the field, with good decision-making, good management of the game, efficient and effective management of players and that not all of the focus is on VAR.
"Most of the noise I hear when I've been outside of the English game about what happens with officiating here is around VAR. It seems to be the topic of conversation and it has been for a while now. Clearly, there's been some bumps in the road with the implementation but good officiating is something that starts on the field."
