Arsenal goalscorer Ethan Nwaneri was substituted at half-time against Brighton & Hove Albion because of a muscular injury, Mikel Arteta has said.
The 17-year-old opened the scoring for Arsenal in the first half with a composed finish but Brighton secured a 1-1 draw thanks to Joao Pedro’s penalty, with Arteta also saying after the match that he was shocked the hosts were awarded a penalty after William Saliba challenged the Brazilian forward.
“We have lost him (Nwaneri) as well,” Arteta told Sky Sports after Saturday’s match. “It is a muscular thing and we had to take him off.”
Speaking to BBC Match of the Day after the game, reaffirmed the reasoning behind the teenager’s substitution and described it as “really bad news”.
This was Nwaneri’s second Premier League start, with his first coming in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Brentford on New Year’s Day. Playing on the right wing in place of the injured Bukayo Saka, Nwaneri opened the scoring at Brighton before being replaced by Gabriel Martinelli.
As well as playing 45 minutes this evening (January 4), the teenager played 78 minutes on his first league start against Brentford.
Arsenal were 1-0 up when Nwaneri came off, but were held to a draw by a 61st minute Joao Pedro penalty. The penalty was awarded after Saliba was deemed to have made sufficient contact for a penalty with his head on Joao Pedro’s.
“I’ve never seen a decision like this in my career,” Arteta said in his post-match press conference. “I asked the boys if they have and nobody had before.
“When you look at the incident, the distance, the player – Joao Pedro touching the ball and then Saliba touching the ball, you can see contact there (with the ball).”
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A reverse angle does appear to show Saliba making contact with the ball before Joao Pedro’s head.
On whether he expected the on-pitch decision to be overturned or whether he got an explanation, the Arsenal manager added: “I checked and after three seconds they said they already checked. (That) Seems quick. I asked Anthony (Taylor) and he said VAR would have a look at it.”
This is the second time a refereeing decision has dominated post-match discussions after Arsenal have faced Brighton this season, following Declan Rice’s controversial red card in August.
That match also finished 1-1, with Arsenal ahead at the time of the decision. This time around, it leaves Arsenal five points behind league leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand and host Manchester United on Sunday, January 5.
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(Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
