Mikel Arteta: Arsenal boss ‘unhappy’ with draw at Everton after controversial referee decision - 'Never a penalty'
Updated 05/04/2025 at 18:15 GMT+1
Mikel Arteta thought Darren England's decision to penalise Myles Lewis-Skelly for a foul on Jack Harrison in the box was incorrect, and said it set up a "really different" game. Arsenal led Everton 1-0 after Leandro Trossard netted a first-half opener, but just minutes into the second half, Lewis-Skelly was adjudged to have illegally felled Harrison in a tangle which started outside the box.
'Never a penalty' - Controversial call made Everton clash 'really different', says Arteta
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Myles Lewis-Skelly's challenge on Jack Harrison was "never a penalty", according to Mikel Arteta, who felt the decision changed the tide of Arsenal's 1-1 draw at Everton.
The Gunners went into the half-time break 1-0 up thanks to Leandro Trossard's clinical finish from a Raheem Sterling-led counter-attack on 34 minutes.
But just moments into the second half, Darren England pointed to the spot as Lewis-Skelly and Harrison both went down in a tangle, the Arsenal full-back adjudged to have made enough contact after trying to recover from misjudging the bounce of the incoming ball.
Contact between the pair started outside the penalty area, but continued well into the box, and the Premier League issued a statement to confirm the on-pitch decision made by England, and reaffirmed by Stuart Attwell.
"The referee’s call of penalty for the challenge by Lewis-Skelly on Harrison was checked and confirmed by VAR - with the contact deemed to be sufficient for a penalty and inside the area," Premier League Match Centre wrote on X.
Arteta, though, was displeased with the decision and its effect on the match, and he told TNT Sports he was "unhappy" with his side's 11th draw of the Premier League season.
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Highlights: Arsenal pay penalty in draw at Everton
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"Especially with the result very unhappy," he said. "Very tough place to come, a team that is very physical, direct.
"If you don't deal with their play constantly well, you don't get momentum so it's very difficult.
"The start of the second half was very poor, we gave the ball away, we are just insecure in what we do with one another. Then the decision of the penalty comes. It, for me, is never a penalty.
"[The timing was] really bad, because the game just started in the second half, you want to generate some momentum, especially going ahead. We never got to do that because the game became really different."
A point for Arteta's side saw them cut Liverpool's lead at the top of the table to 11 points, though The Gunners have now played a game more than their Merseyside counterparts.
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Former Arsenal defender and TNT Sports football pundit Martin Keown feels that drawing too many games has put paid to Arsenal's title hopes this season, though he sympathised with the excessive injury list Arteta has combated throughout the campaign.
"There's games they were winning last year, there weren't many draws in there," Keown said. "This year, too many draws. Of course, hamstrung with injuries, players out in the final third, and that's really affected them."
And he feels the injuries, accentuated by Gabriel recently being ruled out for the remainder of the season, have forced the Arsenal boss to take his focus away from closing the gap to league leaders Liverpool.
Arteta's side face Real Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final showdown on Tuesday at the Emirates Stadium, and Keown felt the clash at Goodison Park was more an afternoon for "preservation" of key players.
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'Too many draws' put pay to Arsenal's title chances this season, says Keown
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"They're looking at it now that it's [winning at Everton] not the priority today," Keown said. "They're looking at other games, another competition, huge competition of course, it's about preservation really.
"It's because the squad has got that [list] of injuries. Credit to Moyes, it's a totally different Everton now. One defeat in 11, coming here now [and drawing] is an okay result."
The second leg of Arsenal's Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid will be live on TNT Sports and discovery+ on Wednesday, April 16.
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