MIKEL ARTETA fumed after Arsenal were issued an apology following VAR controversy against Brentford.
Official Lee Mason came under fire when he failed to spot an offside in the build up to Brentford’s leveller at the Emirates on Saturday.
Mason supposedly forgot to draw the lines to determine if Christian Norgaard was offside as he was looking at another incident in the build-up to Brentford’s leveller in the 1-1 draw.
It left Ivan Toney to score what could be a killer equaliser to Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes come the end of the season.
The refereeing body, the PGMOL, wrote to Arsenal to apologise citing human error, and Howard Webb called an emergency meeting with all officials.
But a seething Arteta said: “We ended the game with a huge anger and disappointment because that wasn’t a human error, that was not understanding your job and that is not acceptable.
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“That cost Arsenal two points and that’s not going to be restored.”
Mason currently only works on VAR after retiring as an on-pitch official, but he has been stood down from his duties this weekend.
The 51-year-old was not included in the Premier League’s list of appointments for the upcoming round of fixtures.
Arsenal dropped points for the second game in a row after defeat to Everton the week before.
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And despite having a game in hand over champions and second-placed Manchester City, the gap is now narrowed to only three points.
After the match, Arteta raged: “I just looked back and it is offside. Have they explained why it wasn’t allowed? No.
“It is frustrating but they will probably give an explanation later in the week. Today we haven’t got one.
“You have to apply certain principles in defending and you do that by sticking to the rules.
“Suddenly you change the rules and then you have to change your principles. So tell us before so then you don’t hold the line that high.
“Because you’re always going to have an advantage if you get blocked. You cannot block if you are offside.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
