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Arsenal: Mikel Arteta issues 'big opinion' on referee decisions after Gunners denied vs Aston Villa

Anger: Mikel Arteta (Action Images via Reuters)
Anger: Mikel Arteta (Action Images via Reuters)

Mikel Arteta says he had a “big opinion” on some of the refereeing decisions from Arsenal’s defeat to Aston Villa - but refused to elaborate.

The Gunners fell to a 1-0 loss at Villa Park on Saturday after John McGinn scored the only goal of the game after just seven minutes.

Arsenal had the chances to get back into the match, but they squandered them and defeat means they stay second in the Premier League.

Arteta cut a frustrated figure afterward, especially because Arsenal had a penalty shout waved away and a late goal ruled out.

Gabriel Jesus felt he had been fouled (Getty Images)
Gabriel Jesus felt he had been fouled (Getty Images)

Asked about Kai Havertz’s goal being ruled out for handball, Arteta told Sky Sports: “I prefer not to comment.”

Then pressed if that was the same for Gabriel Jesus not getting a penalty after Douglas Luiz appeared to catch him in the box, the Arsenal manager replied: “I think that is even clearer.”

Finally, Arteta was asked if he had an opinion but was cautious not to say anything, replying: “I do, big opinion, yes.”

Asked again in his post-match press conference for his opinion on the two incidents, Arteta added: "Clear and obvious ... clear and obvious, that’s my opinion, that’s all I can say."

Arteta has had numerous run-ins with the officials recently and he was serving a touchline ban at Villa Park after picking up his third yellow card of the season.

Kai Havertz was judged to have handled the ball in the build-up to his chaulked-off equaliser (Action Images via Reuters)
Kai Havertz was judged to have handled the ball in the build-up to his chaulked-off equaliser (Action Images via Reuters)

The Arsenal manager is also waiting to learn the fate of his FA charge following his comments after the Gunners’ 1-0 defeat at Newcastle last month.

Arteta was frustrated with the loss at Villa as he felt his side were the better team, but failed to take their chances.

“Very disappointed with the result after the way we played,” he said. “We deserved more than what we had. I think we were the better team. “I haven’t seen my team do much more than what we have done to Villa today since we were here in February.

“It wasn’t enough to win because we lacked the accuracy in the opponents box to put the ball in the back of the box with the amount of situations that we generated.

“We had so many big opportunities that we couldn’t finish when they were completely open to shoot. We had two or three open goals almost that we couldn’t manage to score.

“There’s not much more that we could have demanded from the players than what we got today. We’re very disappointed because we didn’t get the result that we wanted.”