ARSENAL fans were left berating the ‘serious inconsistency’ of refereeing decisions at the weekend after Alexandre Lacazette was denied a penalty against Aston Villa.
That came before Liverpool star Mohamed Salah was awarded a soft call in the Reds’ big match with Manchester City at Anfield.
Alexandre Lacazette was dragged down in the box by Emi MartinezCredit: Kevin Quigley-The Daily Mail
Salah flopped to the ground under the most tentative of invitationsCredit: EPA
Trailing Villa 1-0 away from home, the Gunners looked to have a strong case for a spot-kick when Emi Martinez hauled his former team-mate Alexandre Lacazette down in the penalty area, grabbing his shirt in the process.
But to their astonishment, a free-kick was instead awarded the Midlanders’ way.
The next day, City defender Ruben Dias made the slightest contact on Salah’s arm, with the Egyptian subsequently throwing himself to the ground.
But unlike the Gunners, the reigning Premier League champions found themselves looked upon kindly by the officials.
And it didn’t go unnoticed by fans.
One wrote: “Lacazette got hauled to the ground vs Villa and didn’t get a pen, yet Salah gets a pen very little contact here?
“There’s contact there, but that’s still a dive to me. There’s a serious inconsistency in the level of officiating in the league.”
Another added: “Lacazette gets his shirt pulled for 10 seconds and gets dragged down by the keeper and it’s a foul by Lacazette 🤣🤣 there are two sets of rules in the prem”.
Arsenal were beaten 1-0 by fellow mid-table side VillaCredit: Kevin Quigley-The Daily Mail
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While a third fumed: “Slight touch on salah mean lacazette gets pulled down for 10 seconds and gets nothing”.
Another observed: “Lacazette gets physically assaulted in the penalty box, no penalty.
“Mo Salah trips over a poltergeist in the penalty box, penalty”.
The result saw ninth-placed Aston Villa climb four points above the tenth-placed Gunners in the table.
Lacazette and Martinez continued the debate after the game with the former Arsenal stopper insisting on Twitter that his old team-mate had fouled him.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
