Mikel Arteta admitted he was surprised Arsenal were not awarded a penalty in the win over Hull, as he called for “clarity” on the offside laws.
Martin Odegaard struck the only goal of the match with 20 minutes remaining to drag the Gunners past their stubborn opponents. That came after there was controversy in the first half over a potential penalty decision.
Referee Review and Offside Interpretation
The referee halted play to go to the monitor and review replays of Kai Havertz being dragged back in the box. Farai Hallam announced that was a foul, but a penalty was not given as Havertz was offside.
However, the rules are ambiguous on such incidents. One interpretation is that as Havertz was not “attempting to play the ball, or challenging an opponent for the ball,” he was not committing an offside offence. That would mean a penalty should have been given, but the law is complicated and there are examples in the past of it being interpreted in different ways.
Arteta's Reaction and Past Precedents
Arsenal have been caught offside 35 times this season, by far the most in the Premier League, but Arteta jokingly referred to the penalty decision when that stat was put to him in his post-match press conference. He said: “Are you counting the penalty? So 34!”
Pressed for his opinion on the Havertz incident, Arteta continued: “I don’t know, I haven’t watched it back. I didn’t watch it back so I don’t have to lie to you guys. I was surprised, because when they sent the referee to the monitor the bench was telling me that it’s a clear penalty, it’s pulling. I know they decided not to because the starting position of Kai was offside, so I don’t know what the interpretation is. I’m sure they will make that clear to understand it.”
Last season, Brentford were awarded a penalty against Leeds, though that was ruled out by VAR due to a Brentford player being offside. However, a season earlier, Newcastle did get a penalty despite a player being in an offside position, as it was deemed that he had not committed an offside offence when he was pulled back.
Call for Clarity
“I need to understand the decision, what is overruling what in terms of the decision making,” Arteta said when asked if the laws were too complicated. “After that I can give you an answer.”
He added: “We don’t have any clarity yet about the decision.”
