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Mikel Arteta was left furious with referee John Brooks last night, despite Arsenal’s 2-0 win against Sunderland.
Before Bruno Guimarães gave Arsenal the lead in a tight match that Régis Le Bris’s team were arguably unlucky to lose, David Raya made a brilliant save to deny Enzo Le Fée from the penalty spot. Arteta, however, did not believe that Ezri Konsa had hauled Dan Ballard to the ground, instead blaming the Sunderland man for pulling down his opponent.
He said: “We had to overcome a really tough opponent in a difficult place. Sunderland can suffocate you and they decided to be really physical and very direct and we also had to overcome a situation that, in my opinion was unacceptable at this level.
“I’m very worried and sad because this can never be a penalty. It’s a judo roll from the opponent. Ezri does nothing. We have to take responsibility to protect the game. Today the game was unprotected and it could have cost us the win and our momentum. I’m really sad. It should never have happened.”
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.theguardian.com — the content belongs to The Guardian Sport.