Michael Owen has stated that Gabriel Martinelli’s goal should have been ‘left alone’ as Arsenal suffered a 3-1 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, as he told Premier League Productions.
The former England striker added that ‘it was a foul’ by Martin Odegaard on Christian Eriksen in the build to Arsenal’s now-disallowed opening goal, but he doesn’t think it was enough for the on-field referee, Paul Tierney, to go to his side screen to check the incident.
That moment was of huge significance because, later on in that half, debutant and big-money summer signing, Antony, was wheeling away in celebration and officially opening the scoring for Man United.
Mikel Arteta was understandably left baffled on the touchline, as the Arsenal boss was shaking his head at Paul Tierney going to his screen and then overturning the goal.
For the Gunners, that’s their first defeat of the new Premier League season, whilst Erik ten Hag has now guided his team to four wins on the bounce.
Nonetheless, this is what Owen had to say about that first-half incident and why he felt the goal should have stood.
“I possibly think it is a foul,” said Owen. “But I certainly don’t think it’s enough of a foul to bring it back and then to review it. I don’t think the referee should be going anywhere near that screen on the side of the pitch.
“There is no clear and obvious error. We are going back to the stage where we are re-refereeing games here. It should be left alone. Some think it’s a foul, others think it isn’t, if that’s the case, then it’s not clear and obvious.”
STRONG START TO PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON
After six Premier League games, if you had offered the chance for Arsenal to sit top of the Premier League table and with only one defeat to their name, then they would have snapped your hands off.
And that’s where Arteta’s side rightly sit because their next league encounter will be facing a team that is yet to win this season.
Everton are winless following their goalless Merseyside derby showdown on Saturday and were thrashed by the Gunners on the last day of the previous campaign.
These are the type of banana skins that can see the north London outfit slip up, and if you add their Europa League clash in midweek into the equation, then how Arsenal react to today’s defeat will be massive.
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