Jamie Carragher has offered a telling assessment of Mikel Arteta’s reaction as Arsenal seek answers over Sunderland’s penalty
Sunderland’s penalty against Arsenal has prompted Jamie Carragher to compare Mikel Arteta with Sir Alex Ferguson, as the Gunners prepare to seek an explanation from Pro Ref over the decision.
According to Sky Sports, Arsenal are set to hold talks about why referee John Brooks awarded the spot-kick and why VAR Stuart Attwell allowed the decision to stand. The London club want greater consistency from officials after the incident involving Dan Ballard and Ezri Konsa during Saturday’s 2-0 victory at the Stadium of Light.
David Raya saved Enzo Le Fée’s penalty, but the decision remained a source of frustration for Arteta after the match. Carragher believes the Arsenal manager’s repeated references to the incident were significant, suggesting he was using his standing in the game to influence how similar situations are handled in future.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Carragher said: “This was Mikel Arteta becoming the Sir Alex Ferguson of the Premier League right now. He's the don at the moment; he's the Premier League champion. A lot of new managers about...
“He's been in his role for six or seven years, and he feels he's in a position of power to say, 'Yeah, it wasn't a penalty'. And I don't think it was a penalty. But it'd be interesting to see how long it takes for another referee to give a penalty against Arsenal in a similar situation.”
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Carragher agreed with Arteta’s assessment of the penalty, but his wider point concerned the manager’s determination to keep discussing it despite Arsenal taking all three points. He compared that approach with two managers who regularly challenged officials while competing for the biggest honours.”
Carragher continued on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football show: “I thought it was very interesting in the press conference; one of the journalists made a point about, no matter what question you asked him, he kept going back to the penalty, so he was determined to get the narrative out that this won't happen again to his club. But that's a manager - we've seen it with Sir Alex Ferguson, we've seen it with Jose Mourinho.”