After years of struggle to replace Arsene Wenger, Arsenal are finally looking like the real deal again. Mikel Arteta has been a man under pressure since the start of the season with three losses. However, the Gunners are now on a 10-match unbeaten run.
Most of it happened with key players returning to full fitness while recruiting talented players for low prices. But their most recent game against Watford was a difficult affair. Arsenal scored a controversial goal as Watford boss, Claudio Ranieri, disagreed with the decision by Arteta’s men.
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Ranieri disagrees with Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta
The incident happened during the 56th minute when Emile Smith Rowe scored the goal to put Arsenal in the lead. During the build-up, Arsenal midfielder Sambi Lokonga clashed with Ozan Tufan and this led Watford left-back Danny Rose to put the ball out of play. Normally, because of fair play, the team passes the ball back to the opposition, but Arsenal decided to play on.
After a series of passages in the play, Smith Rowe pounced upon a rebound from an opposition player tackle and slotted home a cool finish into the bottom right corner. This led to massive protests.
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Likewise, during that passage of the play, Maitland-Niles blocked Ismaila Sarr, but VAR intervened and ruled out any problems. Watford lost the game 1-0 and newly appointed boss Ranieri looked frustrated after the match. Many interpretations and reactions have come out as pundits and managers discussed the issue.
Different interpretations come to the forefront
Ranieri spoke after the game and gave his take on the situation.
“There is only one thing I’d like to know,” he said. “When there is a man on the ground, everybody expected the ball goes back and it didn’t go. There is a respect in that situation. Then we get the ball with Sarr and go on the counter-attack and there is a big foul. It’s unbelievable,” added Ranieri.
However, Arteta defended his players speaking how honest they were and did not find any problems with the team’s attitude.
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“He [Ranieri] mentioned it to me. I cannot think of any team that is as honest and sometimes naive as us. There is no bad intentions. If anything happened I apologise, I haven’t seen the action but he has that feeling. We compete the right way all the time,” said Arteta.
After Liverpool’s defeat to West Ham, Arsenal now have the longest unbeaten run in the Premier League:
WWWDDWWW
What a turnaround by Mikel Arteta. 👏 pic.twitter.com/bq2UcGG771
— Squawka (@Squawka) November 7, 2021
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Even though the goal was a controversial one, the Gunners deserved to win the match by putting in a professional performance. They leapfrogged Manchester United to 5th in the English Premier League table and look to be a club on the rise.
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