Arsene Wenger rues Arsenal panic after penalty dispute

WATFORD: Arsene Wenger believes a “scandalous” penalty was the main reason why his Arsenal side ended up losing 2-1 at Watford on Saturday. The result lifted Marco Silva’s Hornets into fourth place in the Premier League on a day when Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea also all dropped points.

Arsenal led at half-time through a rare goal from Per Mertesacker, the Germany defender, but the game changed in the second half when Mesut Ozil failed to convert a simple chance to double the lead.

Within a minute Hector Bellerin was adjudged to have impeded Richarlison at the other end for a penalty that the Arsenal manager was convinced was the result of a dive to deceive referee Neil Swarbrick. Measures are in place this season for the authorities to punish simulation retrospectively and it will be interesting to see if action is taken against the Brazilian.

“It’s a scandalous decision but what can we do? Nothing,” Wenger complained. “I believe that we had many many danger situations where we could have scored but didn’t. “We were unlucky with the penalty it was a bit ridiculous. Then we panicked. And we stand there with defeat. “We dropped the level a bit in the second half. We lost our fluency a little. We had the chances to score two and three.”

Richarlison could be handed a two-match ban if found guilty of diving, a decision that would be made by a three-man panel consisting of a former match official, a former manager and an ex-player, and would have to be unanimous.

‘DIVING AND DECEIVING’

Former Premier League referee Graham Poll certainly felt there was a case to answer. “It is as clear an example of diving as you can see,” he said. “I wouldn’t blame Swarbrick. I would blame Richarlison for diving and deceiving.” The penalty was converted by Troy Deeney, a Watford substitute, and set the platform for midfielder Tom Cleverley to win the game deep into added time. Deeney was convinced Swarbrick had got the controversial penalty call correct. “I know Hector, he’s a good lad but that’s a penalty and the other way round he’d be screaming for a penalty,” he said.

The season may only be eight league games old but there is no denying that Watford have made a fine start under new manager Silva, apart from a 6-0 home loss to Manchester City last month.—AFP