Dubai: Former Premier League defender and Sky Sports pundit, Jamie Carragher believes Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta is aiming to wield the same influence over referees that Sir Alex Ferguson once held during his dominant years at Manchester United.
The comparison comes after the Arsenal manager launched a furious reaction to the penalty awarded against his side during their 2-0 victory over Sunderland on Saturday.
Referee John Brooks pointed to the spot after Ezri Konsa was judged to have brought down Dan Ballard. The decision was subsequently upheld following a VAR review, with Sunderland awarded a chance from 12 yards that was ultimately saved.
Arteta was highly critical of the decision after the final whistle, repeatedly returning to the incident during his post-match press conference. Arsenal have since requested clarification from Pro Ref over both the original decision and the subsequent VAR intervention.
Speaking on Monday Night Football, Carragher suggested Arteta’s position as the reigning Premier League champion gives him a platform from which he can challenge refereeing decisions with greater authority.
“This was Mikel Arteta becoming the Sir Alex Ferguson of the Premier League right now,” Carragher said. “He’s the don at the moment; he’s the Premier League champion.
“There is a lot of new managers about and 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.
“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.”
Arsenal went through the entirety of their title-winning campaign last season without conceding a penalty, a record that has added further attention to the Sunderland incident.
The Gunners are now expected to meet with Pro Ref to seek a detailed explanation over why Brooks awarded the spot-kick and why VAR did not overturn the decision.
Arteta made his feelings clear immediately after the match, insisting he could not understand how the incident had been judged to be a penalty.
“The first question we have to discuss is this. This is not acceptable at this level,” Arteta said.
“It was a beautiful game of football with two teams, with an atmosphere in the stadium that was unbelievable.
“I watched it 20 times and I cannot find a way to understand how they think to give a penalty in that situation, or the way the VAR has to intervene.
“I’m sad that we have to discuss this after such a beautiful game, that at this level, has the gravity of that. Because that changes the course of the season and it can cost you the championship.”
