talkSPORT pundit and former Chelsea star Jason Cundy took issue with one major refereeing decision during Arsenal v Brighton.
Arsenal outclassed Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday as they returned to the top of the Premier League table with a 3-0 win at the Amex Stadium.
Mikel Arteta will be delighted by the maturity and professionalism that his side showed against the Seagulls. The Gunners are under immense pressure in every match they play right now, as they will be well aware that dropping even a single point could cost them their chance of being crowned Premier League champions.
No nerves were evident on Saturday, though, as the North London club efficiently swatted Brighton aside. The visitors defended diligently, not giving the hosts even a sniff of a clear-cut opportunity throughout the match. Arsenal also set a new record against Brighton with their attacking play.
However, the Gunners still needed to rely on a penalty to break the deadlock in the first half. Bukayo Saka confidently fired the ball into the bottom corner from the spot after Gabriel Jesus had been brought down in the box by Tariq Lamptey.
Jason Cundy launches into furious rant about Arsenal penalty call
However, there was certainly some controversy surrounding John Brooks’ decision to award the spot-kick. Replays show that whilst Lamptey certainly caught Jesus and sent the Brazilian striker to the ground just inside the area, the full-back did get his toe on the ball before making contact with the forward.
Jason Cundy was watching the game live on talkSPORT and gave his view on the incident as it unfolded. The former defender said, “he gets ball, he gets man. The most important thing is the ball. I don’t think this is a penalty. I think this will get overruled…[after penalty is given] I think that’s a bad call. He gets ball, there’s enough of the ball…Terrible, terrible decision! Terrible decision…VAR has got to step in. Never a penalty! Never, ever, ever a penalty.”
VAR did of course review the decision, but Brooks was not instructed to head to the video monitor to review the challenge himself. VAR sided with the referee’s original on-pitch decision and the penalty was indeed awarded.
READ MORE: 8 worst Arsenal VAR decisions of all time in Premier League games
What did Brighton make of penalty decision v Arsenal?
Although Cundy was clearly incensed, not everyone matched his opinion on the matter.
After the match, Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi was asked what he made of the penalty decision. As quoted by the Seagulls’ official website, the Italian coach said, “the penalty was clear, the referee was good.”
In this writer’s opinion, Brooks was correct to award the penalty. Whilst Lamptey did get a flick on the ball as Jesus knocked it past him, the Arsenal man remained in control, and had he not been tripped he would have kept possession and been beyond Lamptey into a more dangerous position. It was a clumsy challenge from the Brighton defender.
Arsenal have had their clashes with referees and PGMOL this season, but on this occasion Arteta will feel that the correct decision was reached and it favoured his side.