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VAR Mistake: Arteta Wants Two Points Back For Arsenal Not Apology

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Mikel Arteta will “only be pleased” if his Arsenal club receives two points back in recompense for the VAR error that allowed Brentford’s equalizer to stand in Saturday’s Premier League match.

Following Ethan Pinnock’s challenge on Gabriel in the 74th minute, VAR operator Lee Mason conducted a VAR review of Ivan Toney’s goal for Brentford.

Although the incident was cleared, there was a contention that Christian Norgaard was offside during the buildup to Toney’s goal.

The system’s lines, which would have shown whether the Brentford player was offside, were ignored by Mason.

The significant error that happened has been acknowledged and explained to Arsenal by PGMOL Chief Refereeing Officer Howard Webb.

In reaction to the acknowledgment from Webb, coach Mikel Arteta said: “It wasn’t human error, it was not understanding your job.

“That’s not acceptable, I’m sorry.

“It cost Arsenal two points that are not going to be restored so we are going to have to find those two points somewhere else in the league.”

Arteta added: “We ended the game – after analyzing all the evidence we had with the images – with huge anger and disappointment.

“We appreciate the apology and the explanations [from PGMOL] – they were really open. We received a lot of sympathy from our colleagues in football.

“I will only be satisfied if they give me the two points back, which will not be the case.

“They were sincere, open, and genuine apologies and explanations which is really good but it doesn’t change the fact we have two fewer points than we should have in the table.”

As a result of Sunday’s 1-1 tie between second-place Manchester City and Aston Villa, Arsenal manager Arteta saw his team’s lead at the top of the Premier League cut to three points.

At Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, top-of-the-table rivals Arsenal and City will face off and Arteta’s team might lose their top spot if City beat the Gunners.