‘I’d expect a foul’ – Paul Merson claims Arsenal’s winner at Tottenham shouldn’t have stood as VAR fails to intervene
PAUL MERSON reckons Arsenal’s winner in the North London Derby SHOULDN’T have stood.
The Gunners ran out 1-0 winners at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon thanks to a bullet second-half header from Gabriel Magalhaes.
The Brazilian buffeted fellow centre-back Cristian Romero out of the way before heading the ball past a helpless Guglielmo Vicario.
Romero didn’t make a meal of the contact and go to ground, something former Gunner Merson believes he was more than entitled to do.
The Sky Sports pundit said: “I would be disappointed if I didn’t get a foul.
“[Romero] is in the wrong position, everything is wrong about his defending. He’s an international centre-half.
“Even I know, and I don’t play at the back, that you’ve got to be side-on, seeing the ball and your player.
“To start off with you’ve got to be a hand-length away [from him] and he was standing with him.
“I do think – I’d expect a foul. I would expect a foul.”
Victory for Mikel Arteta‘s troops was their THIRD on the spin at the home of their fiercest rivals.
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And they triumphed without the services of star midfielders Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, the latter of whom was serving a needless suspension for his red card against Brighton before the international break.
A jubilant Arteta said of the win: “We have the power to make a lot of people happy and proud.
“We certainly did that today in the manner that we won the game in the circumstances that we had before arriving into this match.
“And with this being the third consecutive away win here as well, it means a lot. So hopefully, they can enjoy it.
“There are certain things that we have to do better for sure.
“Especially the simple things with the ball that I wasn’t happy at all with.
“But there are other things in the game that we have to do and the way we competed and defended.
“And the way we have the intention all the time to run in the spaces that they give you, it was unbelievable.
“Then you have to find a way to win in any context, and today it was tricky, because first of all they are a great opponent.
“Secondly because we have to alter our plan quite a lot for the players that we had, and then you still win the game.”
Arsenal will be back in action on Thursday night in their Champions League opener against Atalanta.
The North Londoners will then travel to defending Premier League champions Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.