Mikel Arteta watched his Arsenal team lose for just the second time this season this afternoon. Everton claimed a shock win at Goodison Park as James Tarkowski's header in the second half made the difference on Merseyside.
The Gunners were not at their free-flowing best today, with Eddie Nketiah having the best chance of the game in the first half. The young striker has been in brilliant form in front of goal but lost all composure as he sliced his shot wide of the target.
Gabriel Magalhaes had a strong shout for a penalty as Neal Maupay seemed to trip the Brazilian into making contact with Idrissa Gueye, resulting in an Everton free-kick. Arsenal players appealed to referee David Coote as VAR took a second look at the incident, but no penalty was given as the Gunners dropped points in the title race for just the third time this term.
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However, former referee Peter Walton explained why Gabriel was not awarded a penalty during BT Sport's coverage of the match. Walton said: "Well actually the initiation of contact was from the Arsenal player so I don’t think this will be given as a penalty kick, certainly there was enough contact there, but not a penalty kick."
Walton's comments suggest that Gabriel initiated the contact with Maupay inside the penalty box before the Brazilian fell to the floor and took out Gueye. The Everton striker seemed to back into Gabriel as the defender ran towards the ball, catching his leg, resulting in him falling to the ground.
This was not the only moment of controversy in the match, as the corner kick that led to Tarkowski's goal seemed to come off Alex Iwobi instead of an Arsenal player, meaning it should have been a goal-kick.
Despite the bizarre refereeing decisions in the match, the Gunners failed to offer a significant attacking threat and Everton had enough chances to put the game out of sight before the penalty shout in the second half.
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