Arsenal: Sunderland penalty against Konsa ruled wrong

Referee John Brooks pointed to the spot after Ezri Konsa was judged to have fouled Dan Ballard at a corner. The panel's statement read: "Although it was a very untidy challenge in which Konsa initially had arms around Ballard, Ballard engages in a holding action which pulls Konsa onto him so they both fall to the floor." VAR Stuart Attwell was backed by a narrower 3-2 margin for not overturning the call, the panel finding no clear and obvious error.

David Raya saved Enzo Le Fee's spot-kick, and Arsenal went on to win 2-0 through Bruno Guimaraes and a late Bukayo Saka penalty, a result that took them top of the table. Saka, who has 80 goals for the club since joining in 2020, converted from the spot himself that day. Arteta was booked for leaving his technical area during the row and made his anger plain afterwards: "(The decision) is not acceptable. I watched it 20 times and I cannot find a way to understand how they'd think to give a penalty in that situation or the way the VAR has to intervene. At this level with all the work we put in, this cannot happen." Arsenal had already asked Pro Ref for an explanation.