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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Alex Young

Thomas Partey reveals Arsenal dressing room reaction to Joao Pedro penalty award

Thomas Partey has revealed the dressing room reaction after Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw at Brighton after a controversial Joao Pedro penalty.

The Gunners went ahead with Ethan Nwaneri’s first Premier League goal in the first half, only for Pedro to win, and then score, from the spot after William Saliba was deemed to have fouled the striker with an accidental headbutt.

An angry Mikel Arteta described the penalty award as “very, very disappointing,” adding: "I've never seen a decision like this in my career. I asked the boys if they have, and nobody has seen it before."

Partey admits Arsenal's players were left deflated by a result which halted their winning run at three top-flight games and failed to put significant pressure on leaders Liverpool.

(Getty Images)

"We are sad, frustrated, everybody is down but that's part of football," he told arsenal.com. "We wanted to win, we wanted to keep the momentum going and at the end of the day, we didn't get it.

"But it's also a positive one because we did not lose. We have to try our best and win these games because they're the most important ones, but it's not an easy game against a good side and to win here you have to be perfect.

"We need to forget (about Saturday) and keep on working hard to win our next game."

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