Jamie Redknapp has hit out at two “chaotic” Arsenal stars after their draw with Brighton on Saturday and insists the Seagulls were right to be awarded their penalty.
Ethan Nwaneri gave the Gunners the lead on his second Premier League start but Fabien Hurzeler’s side roared back in the second half and were well worth their point.
Joao Pedro won the penalty that he converted with aplomb, as William Saliba headed him rather than the ball in the box.
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It was an unusual way in which to win a penalty and Mikel Arteta predictably wasn’t happy with it, but Redknapp insists it was the right decision and claims Saliba and centre-back partner Gabriel had it coming after their “chaotic” defending in the build-up.
Redknapp told Sky Sports: “When I always think about Gabriel and Saliba I always think of a calmness but as this unfolds there’s a little bit of chaos to their defending.
“Gabriel gets himself in a mess as he’s embroiled with Minteh. Minteh wins the ball, it’s rash, he’s all over the place.
“Then you can Saliba faces him up and gets in a muddle. Then it’s just reaction – he sticks his head out trying to win the ball. It’s chaotic and it’s not normally what we associate with them.
“Is it a penalty? I think absolutely. He definitely knocks him to the floor. It was enough to send him down and it was the right decision.”
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Arsenal boss Arteta was left perplexed by the decision to award a penalty, saying he, nor his players, have ever “seen anything like it”.
“I’ve never seen a decision like this in my career,” he said. “I asked the boys, and they have never seen anything like it.”
The Spaniard added: “I’m disappointed because we wanted to win the game. We started the game with good actions and a good goal. We knew it was going to be a challenging game.
“We gave too many balls away in the second half and we’re very disappointed with the penalty. I’ve never seen that in my life – and Saliba touches the ball. [It wasn’t one] for me, no.
“We’re playing every three days. I understand how much we want to [win], but in terms of the quality and the consistency and doing the simple things right against a competitive team, we didn’t do enough today.”
On the title race, Arteta said: “We wanted to win and we weren’t able to do that. We’re very disappointed with the [penalty] decision. Other than that, we’ll try to improve and prepare for our next game.”
