Here is your morning Arsenal digest on Thursday, February 16.
What Kevin De Bruyne did to Mikel Arteta
Arsenal suffered a blow in their challenge for the Premier League title as Manchester City ran out 3-1 winners at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners find themselves second in the table after the defeat and have failed to win in their last four games in all competitions.
Mikel Arteta was at the centre of the action on the touchline once again as Kevin De Bruyne took issue with the Spaniard's actions during Arsenal's clash against Manchester City. The Belgian playmaker had opened the scoring for the champions after Takehiro Tomiyasu made an error in defence.
READ MORE: Arsenal player ratings vs Manchester City as Jorginho superb but Tomiyasu and Gabriel poor
Moments before City found a second goal, Arteta was involved in a touchline scuffle with De Bruyne. The Arsenal boss seemed to shield the ball as it rolled off the pitch and kick it away from the City midfielder who reacted by pushing Arteta and pointing at him as if to warn the Gunners manager not to do it again.
Arteta and De Bruyne enjoyed a successful time together at the Etihad Stadium but there was no love lost between them. The pressure of the title race is growing with each passing week and it's clear that any edge either side can get over one another may prove to be beneficial.
Referee call
Arsenal were impacted as it emerged that VAR Lee Mason forgot to draw the relevant offside lines for Brentford's equaliser during their 1-1 draw with the Gunners on Saturday, with midfielder Christian Norgaard, who assisted goalscorer Ivan Toney, clearly offside in the build-up.
Now, the Premier League have released a statement condemning the officiating and urging the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) to review and explain several incidents.
The Premier League's statement read: "The Premier League sets high standards and is disappointed that PGMOL fell below those expectations last weekend. As a result, the Premier League requested that PGMOL review and explain a number of incidents from the recent match round.
"Following discussions with PGMOL, and yesterday’s Select Group One review meeting, we support PGMOL's views on addressing these issues to improve performances going forward."
Read the full story here.
Rice latest
As per The Telegraph, Arsenal are currently favourites to land West Ham United captain Declan Rice this summer. football.london has previously reported that the Gunners have made Rice their primary target for the summer transfer window.
The report also claims that the north London outfit may also go back in for Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo after having two bids for the 21-year-old rejected last month.
READ NEXT:
Arsenal player ratings vs Manchester City as Jorginho superb but Tomiyasu and Gabriel poor
What Kevin De Bruyne did to Mikel Arteta during Arsenal Premier League clash vs Man City
Former Premier League referee explains why Arsenal were given controversial penalty vs Man City
Premier League make referee demand following major Arsenal VAR blunder
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