Mikel Arteta declared “thank God” for VAR after Premier League leaders Arsenal held on for a 1-0 win at Leeds United.
Sunday’s game at Elland Road was suspended just a couple of minutes after it started, as a power cut was affecting Hawk-Eye and communications between referee Chris Kavanagh and the VAR.
The match resumed following a delay of around 40 minutes and Bukayo Saka’s fourth goal in three matches gave the Gunners a half-time advantage, the England international becoming the first player to register 50 goal involvements during Arteta’s reign.
Leeds dominated the second half, Patrick Bamford having a goal disallowed for a push on Gabriel Magalhaes within a minute of coming on before missing a penalty.
Bamford wasted further clear-cut chances as Aaron Ramsdale kept Leeds at bay and there was one final twist when the Leeds striker was awarded another spot-kick after being kicked by Gabriel, who was shown a red card for retaliating.
However, referee Kavanagh instead awarded Arsenal a free-kick and showed Gabriel a yellow card, having seen on the pitchside monitor that Bamford had shoved the centre-back to the ground.
A seventh consecutive victory put the Gunners four points clear ahead of second-placed Manchester City’s trip to Liverpool and Arteta was relieved after an action-packed afternoon in West Yorkshire.
Asked to reflect on the match, the Arsenal boss told Sky Sports: “Hectic! It is always really intense here, we were exceptional in the first half and should have been two or three up.
“Credit to Leeds in the second half, we made so many errors and did not generate momentum but I just love the relentless passion the team played with and how we found a way to win.”
He added on the late VAR decision: “I have not seen it but everyone is saying the decision was clear. Thank God they made the system work, that delay was worth it because without VAR I don’t know what would have happened!”
Arteta praised the character shown by his players on the back of a 1-0 Europa League win at Bodo/Glimt, where Saka scored the only goal of the game following his double in the 3-2 victory over Liverpool last weekend.
The Spaniard said: “This is something special. This is not a coincidence it shows the willingness that I see in the eyes of the players to win, to compete.
“A lot of players played in Norway two and a half days ago, travelled back on Friday and were still willing to win so credit to them.”
Leave a Comment