Arsenal suffered a painful defeat at the hands of Aston Villa on Saturday, and Mikel Arteta’s reaction was telling. The Spaniard, who is in the thick of a Premier League title race with Liverpool, Manchester City and perhaps even Villa themselves, opted not to stay in his seat until the final whistle and stormed off back to the dressing room ahead of schedule.
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Mikel Arteta stormed off before the full-time whistle at Villa Park
The Gunners had the opportunity to capitalise in the West Midlands after bagging a last-minute winner against Luton Town in midweek and watching City fall to a 1-0 defeat at Villa Park.
Arteta was sent off for the third time this campaign at Kenilworth Road, so he was forced to watch from the stands. John McGinn’s early goal put Arsenal behind the ball from the start, so it wasn’t an easy watch for the manager.
The visitors probed throughout the second half without finding an answer; even if it looked as though Kai Havertz, who was subsequently penalised for a handball, had scrambled home an equaliser in the 90th minute.
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As full-time approached, Arteta didn’t even wait to hear the referee’s final whistle. Instead, the 41-year-old hopped out of his seat and quickly dashed straight for the door – a reaction which speaks volumes about the scale of the chance Arsenal passed up.
A win would have catapulted them back to the top of the Premier League table, eight points ahead of reigning champions Man City, albeit having played one game more. However, a draw leaves them in second spot, one point behind Liverpool and only one ahead of third-place Villa.
Arsenal topped the table for much of last season before losing momentum in the closing weeks. After a summer of solid recruitment, including the acquisition of £105million man Declan Rice, Arteta is on a mission to end the north Londoners’ title drought.
The Gunners boss has not shied away from criticising refereeing decisions this campaign, and Havertz’s late disallowed goal could become another source of controversy.
After the game, former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp slammed the rules which forced the referee to give a handball at Villa Park.
“Unfortunately it’s the rule,” he told Sky Sports.
“It’s a terrible rule, that if the ball touches the players hand and it results in a goal, it’s disallowed. It’s just rebounding around. We’re getting ourselves in such a mess with all these rules.
“We are trying to help football, the powers that be have to look at that. It’s a bad rule, it grazed his arm. Whoever has decided to come up with that as the law, it’s ridiculous. It cost Arsenal a goal.”
