Arsenal may have stretched their lead at the top of Premier League to seven points on Saturday, but the goalless draw at Nottingham Forest will have left many Gunners fans reflecting on another missed opportunity.
Manchester City’s 2-0 loss at Old Trafford offered Arsenal the chance to move nine points clear at the top of the table, but Mikel Arteta’s side were left frustrated for the second league match running.
Having drawn 0-0 against Liverpool last week, it is the first time Arsenal have had consecutive stalemates in the top flight for 14 years – since the opening two games of the 2012-13 season against Sunderland and Stoke City.
While Arteta pointed to his side creating “four big chances” without facing a single shot on target from Forest, winger Noni Madueke admitted it felt like “a missed opportunity”.
Arteta’s biggest frustration was not being awarded a second-half penalty for a handball by Forest defender Ola Aina.
The Arsenal boss said: “I’ve just seen the replays – I think it’s a clear intention to clear the ball inside and it’s a clear penalty, so I don’t understand why it’s not been given.”
The Aina handball incident happened with about 10 minutes of the match remaining.
The Forest right-back attempted to control a bouncing ball in his own penalty area while being challenged by Gabriel Jesus and bumped by his own team-mate Elliot Anderson.
The ball hit Aina’s shoulder before striking his arm as the defender tried to turn, prompting Arteta and Arsenal to vehemently appeal for a spot-kick – to no avail.
The Premier League Match Centre on X said: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Arsenal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that the ball was played off Aina’s shoulder first, while his arm was also in a natural position.”
While Arteta was adamant his side had been denied a “clear penalty”, Forest boss Sean Dyche, unsurprisingly, did not agree.
“I think if these start to get given we’ve all got to leave it. I think that’s ridiculous. We’ve got to be careful with those,” Dyche said.
“You may as well cancel football if you’re going to give that [as handball]. The rules have to be careful. You know what they should be looking at? People feigning injury. That’s the new diving.”
Retired Premier League assistant referee Darren Cann told BBC Sport he thought the officials had come to the correct decision, saying: “The arm is close to the body and is in a justifiable position.”
The decision split the watching pundits, with ex-Chelsea winger Pat Nevin telling BBC Radio 5 Live he thought Aina’s arm “moved towards the ball”, but former Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard insisting it would have been “soft” to award a spot-kick for the incident.
Last season only nine penalties were awarded for handball in the Premier League. That was a massive outlier compared to other European leagues, with 34 awarded in Serie A and 37 in Ligue 1.
There has been a correction this term, but the English top flight still has the lowest number of handball spot-kicks in the top five leagues – 15 at one every 15.13 games.
Six have been given via the video assistant referee (VAR) in the Premier League. On each occasion the arm was well away from the body or there was a clear and deliberate movement to the ball.
And it is deliberate handball which can be Arsenal‘s only claim for a penalty against Forest defender Aina.
The ball came off Aina’s shoulder and his arm was in a justifiable position for his movement. You cannot say the ball just hitting it could be a handball offence.
The referee Michael Oliver had no chance of seeing it as it happened behind bodies on the goalline. That means the VAR Darren England was the sole arbiter of whether not giving a penalty could be seen as a serious missed incident.
Anderson’s role is crucial. Could you say Aina has made a conscious deliberate movement to handle the ball? Or was it a consequence of his team-mate bumping into him?
There are arguments on both sides, of course. But the same consideration is given to a defender if they have been challenged by an attacker. It would make no sense if it did not apply to a team-mate too.
Considering Anderson collided with Aina before his arm moved to the ball it is a reasonable to think the subsequent movement was a result of this rather than a deliberate act.
The VAR failing to intervene is very unlikely to be seen as an error.
The Gunners are seven points clear of both Manchester City and Aston Villa before Unai Emery’s side host Everton on Sunday – but Arteta’s side must do more to clinch a first title in two decades, according to former Arsenal defender Martin Keown.
“You have to find that extra from somewhere, that inspirational moment. If you want to be champions you have to do something special,” Keown told TNT Sports.
“If Arsenal were more clinical in front of goal, there are three points there… That’s where they will look to improve, because they are creating the opportunities, that’s not in doubt.”
Arsenal‘s lack of a regular goalscorer has been questioned in recent weeks, with joint-top scorers Viktor Gyokeres and Leandro Trossard having only netted five times each in the league.
“We could’ve been better, but this is happening all around the league for every single team,” said Arteta.
“We have to improve and be better, especially when we create four big chances – you have to put them away.”
