Saturday’s game at Watford swung in a matter of seconds thanks to a miss from Mesut Ozil and a big decision from the referee.
Our Germany playmaker squandered a chance at one end and Watford immediately went down the other end to win a penalty when Richarlison went down in the box.
Here’s what Arsene Wenger thought of the decision:
on the penalty…
I would say it was not a penalty. It was a decision from the referee and that’s it.
on conceding 11 penalties since start of last season and if Arsenal have had a raw deal…
I don’t know. I don’t see any pre-conceived idea. I just think the decision is wrong and that’s it. It came at a moment in the game where it was absolutely important for Watford. [If there was] no penalty, [there’d have been] no goal.
on Arsenal passing up chances before Watford equalised…
We should have [scored], yes of course. It’s not the only major fact in the game. I thought we played very well in the first half but I was not so happy with the level in the second half. I think our level dropped in the second half and we missed many chances to kill the game with goal No 2 and goal No 3 - they should have been scored. After that, at 1-1, there was no need to panic. I believe that on the second goal we can only look at ourselves.
on having 11 players away recently and if coming back from international break was a factor…
It is, but if you look well at the game today, I think with a bit more killer instinct in front of goal, we should have won the game. That’s where we are guilty. The decision on the penalty we have no impact on at all. Not everybody is at the same level physically, that’s for sure, but I feel despite that, we should have won the game.
on if the Premier League simulation panel should look at Richarlison for the penalty…
I don’t want to interfere too much with the referees and their decisions and what’s going on. I just want the right decisions to be made during the game.
on if Arsenal can catch Man City, who have a nine-point lead…
It will be difficult, of course. At the moment we are not looking too much at Man City, we are looking at ourselves. We have to bounce back from our disappointment today. We look like we can make results when we play our game like we did in the first half. But we need to be at the level like that for 90 minutes.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
