Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has levelled criticism against Video Assistant Referee (VAR) Lee Mason for his failure to properly check a goal that was clearly offside during Arsenal's 1-1 draw against Brentford in the Premier League over the weekend. Mason allowed Brentford's late goal to stand, despite midfielder Christian Norgaard being offside during the build-up to the goal. It cost the current Arsenal manager two crucial points in the Premier League title race.
The current league leaders are now just three points ahead of defending champions Manchester City, who they face on Wednesday (February 16) night.
Speaking ahead of their match against City, Arteta said that his team ended the Brentford match with great anger and disappointment, adding that it was not a human error on Mason's part. "We ended the [Brentford] game, after analysing it with the evidence and images, with a huge anger and disappointment because that wasn't a human error," said Arteta.
"That was a big, big, big not conceiving and understanding your job. That's not acceptable, I'm sorry. And that cost Arsenal two points and that's not going to be restored," Arteta added.
Premier League referee body PGMOL issued an apology to Arteta and Arsenal for the mistake made during their draw against Brentford. While appreciating the apology that was issued by the PGMOL after this incident, Arteta added that he will only be satisfied when his team get the two points back.
"So we are going have to find those two points somewhere else in the league. But at the same time, we appreciate the apology and the explanations which were really open to being fair. I will be satisfied if they give me the two points back, which is not going to be the case," said Arteta.
Arsenal were in prime form in January but have slipped over the last three matches. Following their elimination at the hands of Manchester City, they lost away to Everton and were subpar for most of the home match against Brentford before a late goal from new signing Leandro Trossard gave them the lead. However, Ivan Toney equalised from a chance that should have been ruled out for offside, but the VAR failed to check a second possible offside incident ahead of the restart of play.
They are atop the Premier League table with 51 points from 21 matches and will face Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in a heavyweight league clash on February 16 at the Emirates Stadium.
