While Arsenal potentially took a big step towards a top four finish this afternoon, their victory over Manchester United probably knocked Ralf Rangnick's side out of that race.
It was a game full of errors at The Emirates, with both sides guilty of some shaky defending at the back at times. It was also a contest decided by two penalties. Whereas Arsenal would score their's via Bukayo Saka in the first half, Bruno Fernandes would squander United's opportunity to draw level after the break. Granit Xhaka would then go on to put the result beyond doubt a few minutes later.
There could be little debate about the two spot kicks that were awarded, but that does not mean there were not some controversial decisions over the course of the 90 minutes.
Rio Ferdinand felt that a couple of big decisions went against his former club, although Peter Walton disagreed with him during their conversation in the BT Sport studio.
The first decision that caused some debate surrounded Arsenal's third goal. While there was nothing wrong with Xhaka's long range strike, you could make an argument that Eddie Nketiah has impeded the view of David de Gea while standing in an offside position.
I think Arsenal deserved the win and would have got it regardless but amazed Nketiah wasn’t given offside for this pic.twitter.com/jhkrb7iehR
— Ed Malyon (@eaamalyon) April 23, 2022
Ferdinand argued the goal should have been chalked off as a result, although Walton said that it was actually Victor Lindelof that blocked the goalkeeper's ling of sight.
Ferdinand: It's offside. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic strike, an absolute arrow. But if you go back to that shot of de Gea looking around the player, surely he is interfering with play?
He's standing in an offside position and de Gea leans around him...
It doesn't matter if he's getting near it or not, he's having to lean around to look at a player who is standing in an offside position. Can we get Peter in please?
Walton: The offence is committed if the player interferes with the line of sight of vision of the goalkeeper. You could argue he's looking around him, but also Lindelof is there as well.
When the ball is struck, is it Lindelof?
Ferdinand: When the player is in front of him surely that's the one you're looking around?
Walton: No, because that player isn't necessarily in his line of sight. The VAR has looked at various angles and determined that it was Lindelof protecting the ball and not Nketiah and therefore the goal starts.
This would not be the only disagreement between the pair during the post-match coverage.
The other contentious incident came in the opening half, when Cedric Soares touched the ball with his hand inside the box as he attempted to regain his balance. Both the referee and VAR official felt it was not worth of a penalty.
This is a blatant penalty but apparently the refs favour United pic.twitter.com/ak8QM34nXD
— Tяυsτ №¹-Yahya™ (@RealistYahz) April 23, 2022
Ferdinand felt this was a stonewall penalty, although Walton said it was not actually a foul under the current laws of the game.
Ferdinand: I think United could feel hard done by with many of the decisions that have gone on today, like the handball...
Walton: As [Cedric Soares] goes down there, his arm is extended out there to save him from falling to the ground.
Ferdinand: No, come on man.
Walton: Let me finish the law here Rio. The rule is quite specific. It does say if the arm is there to prevent him from falling on the floor and the ball strikes his arm, it cannot be a deliberate act...
Ferdinand: Can I say something? He's not trying to prevent himself from falling, he's trying to stay up to keep himself going and stay alongside play so he can be an obstacle of getting towards goal.
If he is falling, he takes one hand and falls over. You can't start crawling on the floor...
Walton: I'm not hiding behind the law, I'm quoting the law. The law is specific and the referee did the right thing.
Ferdinand: I just don't think it's consistent. I'm not sitting here saying Manchester United should or could have won the game, I'm just saying that decisions like that lead to frustration...
As a football fan I get frustrated when I think decisions should have been given another way. I feel that today the referee and VAR got far more wrong than they got right.
The offside decision for Arsenal's third goal can perhaps be debated, although it seems there is no room for interpretation here. The rules clearly dictate that a penalty should not be given in those circumstances.
In spite of that, Ralf Rangnick also felt some key calls went against his side over the course of the game.
"𝑨𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔!"
Ralf Rangnick was very unhappy with VAR and gave us the reason why CR7 didn't take the penalty at 2-2.
🎤 @CarrieBrownTV #beINPL #ARSMUN
Watch Now 👉 https://t.co/NRYe31nXnO pic.twitter.com/Xx9qoIOrWy— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) April 23, 2022
In any case, Manchester United could have few arguments about the final result.
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