Nottingham Forest played a blinder by securing a well-deserved point against Arsenal at the weekend.
Only Liverpool had stopped the Gunners from scoring prior to the match, but a defensive masterclass typified Sean Dyche at the City Ground.
Forest didn’t have a shot on target during the game and were indebted to some brilliant goalkeeping from Matz Sels to preserve the point.
The game did see a huge flash point towards the end of the contest with VAR taking a close look at a possible penalty for Arsenal following Ola Aina appearing to handle in the box.
Darren England saw no reason to overrule Michael Oliver and play continued, with Dermot Gallagher and Jay Bothroyd discussing the decision on today’s Ref Watch.
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Dermot Gallagher and Jay Bothroyd agree on Arsenal penalty call
It’s hard to remember a time when Arsenal last dropped points and didn’t blame a referee!
Despite missing a host of chances, the referee and the VAR were on the end of Mikel Arteta’s sharp tongue after the 0-0 draw but Dermot Gallagher doesn’t think he has much of a case.
On the decision, he said on Ref Watch: “100 per cent not a penalty for a number of reasons.
“Firstly, you can clearly see that it comes off his shoulder. Elliot Anderson, his teammate, knocks into him, which puts him off balance and into the ball. His arm is in a natural position, it strikes his arm off his own shoulder, I don’t think there is much to argue about, to be honest. I just can’t see that VAR has got anything other to do than say well done to Michael Oliver and play on.”
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Bothroyd is a former youth team graduate at Arsenal but even he agrees with Gallagher that the decision given was correct.
He said: “Again, I agree with Dermot. The rules are that if it comes off your body and goes onto your arm, it’s not a handball, and I think that’s obviously happened there. Anderson bumps into him; it’s an accident, and I don’t want to see penalties given for that. I think the officials got the right decision there.”
Forest have to build on Arsenal point
Four points from games against West Ham and Arsenal are not to be sniffed at and Forest do now have a little platform to build from.
The Reds need to make sure they build on this bit of momentum and try desperately to climb the Premier League table in the coming weeks.
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Forest have some huge matches coming up on the horizon, and it’s vital that everyone stays focused and committed to improving the standards on the pitch.
The penalty call from the weekend is typical of Arteta and this is once again nothing more than the Spaniard deflecting from his own team’s inefficiencies against Forest.
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