Arsenal fans have been left furious at referee Anthony Taylor after a late winner against Liverpool was ruled out.
The Gunners faced off against the Reds on Sunday afternoon in a huge title race clash, and took the lead early on through Bukayo Saka - who shaked off injury concerns to start. Virgil van Dijk nodded in a corner soon after to level the before Mikel Merino headed home from a set-piece to give Arsenal the lead just before half-time.
It was a thrilling first half, but the second was a different matter as the Gunners again retreated to hold onto their lead - especially after Gabriel was forced off through injury - with the likes of David Raya booked for time-wasting with half an hour left to play. Liverpool eventually equalised with nine minutes remaining through a stunning counterattack finished off by Mohamed Salah.
As frustrating as Salah's equaliser was to Gunners fans, their ire was directed at referee Taylor when, in the 90th minute, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus combined to score only to realise that the whistle had already been blown for a foul in the build-up.
The move started when Curtis Jones fluffed a clearance, resulting in Jakub Kiwior beating Dominik Szoboszlai by going over the top of his opponent.
Taylor paused to see where the ball fell, and it did to Kai Havertz who appeared to use his arm to control the ball ahead of Ibrahim Konate, and then the whistle went to ball the play back for the earlier foul as no advantage could be played.
Havertz continued unaware, lobbing Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher as Trent Alexander-Arnold failed to cleared, seeing the ball bounce off the post and duly be tapped home into an empty net by Jesus as every other player on the pitch had stopped playing.
Taylor had halted the play for a foul on Szoboszlai and the VAR could not get involved to award the goal as the referee had blown before the ball crossed the line.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, former Premier League official Mike Dean admitted it was a "soft foul" to award, and one which he deemed "50/50" to give.
"It's more of a soft foul if anything, to be fair he's just penalised the Arsenal player, it's probably a 50/50 call, for me," he said. “[Taylor]'s had a good game the referee, so I can't criticise him for that to be honest with you."
Sections of Arsenal fans online believe themselves to be victims of poor refereeing decisions, voicing criticisms of match officials after seeing their team drop points this season. One Gunners fan wrote on X that “the referee was so fast to blow the whistle so VAR couldn’t review it too", while another added: "Officials desperate not to see Arsenal win as usual."
On the Liverpool side, under a video of the incident titled 'Chaos at The Emirates' one fan wrote “there wasn’t any chaos, whistle blown play called back" and another added: "It's not chaos! It's the correct decision!"
Red cards for Declan Rice, Leandro Trossard and William Saliba have all come in games which the Gunners have gone on to drop points. Are they now five points off champions Manchester City, and four off Liverpool.
Arsenal were favourites to win the Premier League title a little over a week ago. They are now five points off champions Manchester City, and four off Liverpool, and a clear third in the race for the league crown.
