Mikel Arteta's patience with referees appears to have run short, with Arsenal having been subject to some contentious officiating this season.
Video Assistant Referee officials forgot to draw lines to see whether Christian Norgaard was offside in the draw with Brentford. The week prior, the north Londoners were denied another penalty following a clumsy-looking tackle by Neal Maupay on Gabriel Magalhaes.
Then, in the goalless draw with Newcastle at the Emirates Stadium last month, Arsenal were denied a penalty after Gabriel's shirt was pulled by Dan Burn. Despite the Gunners' protests, VAR did not award the home side a spot-kick.
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Gabriel Martinelli had a goal against Manchester United controversially ruled out during Arsenal's 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford — VAR deemed that Martin Odegaard fouled Christian Eriksen in the build-up but relays showed that contact was minimal.
With refereeing decisions pulling at Arteta's heartstrings, the Spaniard appear to have had enough amid his outburst at Villa Park. Simon Hooper, the on-field referee, gestured to the fourth official that either club can now make a substitution and, as the camera switched to the Gunners boss, he was pictured mocking the official's hand signals.
In what was an emotional rollercoaster of a fixture against Aston Villa, Arteta summed up how he was feeling after the game. He said: "It’s difficult now because it’s been a rollercoaster and was very emotional at the end.
"I think we showed a lot of resilience character and quality. The context of the game was difficult, with the performance that we had against City and having to come here after less than 72 hours and then after 5 minutes you are down.
"Then you have to play the next 90 minutes like we are as a team right now," Arteta added. "We had some difficulties in the first half collectively and individually we brought the level right down and we stopped doing the simple things right.
"At half time we said the moment is now, we have to raise the individual level, we have to look each other in the face if we want to come out and win the game because we can. Then we altered a few things and we produced a very strong performance. Probably we should have won it earlier than we have done."
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