Ian Wright and Ruud Gullit were in disagreement over William Saliba giving away a penalty for handball during Arsenal’s 2-2 draw at Chelsea.
It was a controversial moment and a big moment in the game because it proved to be the opening goal of the match for Chelsea to the annoyance of Arsenal fans.
The issue with the awarding of the penalty was how else was William Saliba expected to jump without his arms going up in the air?!
That was touched upon by Ian Wright, who didn’t mince his words and stated that the people who have made these rules ‘don’t play football’, as he told Premier League Productions (21/10/23 at 6:45 pm).
But Ruud Gullit disagreed with the Arsenal legend because he feels it was a penalty and ‘that’s why they made this rule’.
That goal from the spot by Cole Palmer lifted the Stamford Bridge faithful, with Mykhailo Mudryk going on to double his side’s lead in the second half.
Mikel Arteta’s side still managed to mount a late comeback through Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard, but Ian Wright was still unhappy at the call towards William Saliba.
William Saliba handball
“I think it’s a penalty, it’s a clear penalty,” said Gullit. “His hands are up and the ball could go up to the goal. It’s harsh because you need to jump up, you need to do something with your arms, you can’t jump without it.
“But the ball could go towards goal, then it’s a penalty. If that isn’t a penalty, then what is?!”
Wright added: “Even there we can see that the header looked like it was missing. I am not sure how else he is supposed to try and jump to win it. His arm is naturally gone out to his side. The people who made that particular law don’t play football. You can’t do anything about that. There is nothing he can do.”
Gullit responded: “That is difficult for a referee to point out. What is intentional and what is not? That is the difficulty. That is why they made this rule.”
Wright then stated: “If that was going in the goal, then I wouldn’t complain. But that’s not going in the goal. That doesn’t look unnatural to me – I will leave it with Ruud.”
A big point
In the whole context of the situation, that’s a very good point for Arsenal and their quest to win the Premier League title.
Picking up a point when you haven’t played well is a very good sign if you want to become champions.
Not only that, Arsenal are still unbeaten despite playing two of their London rivals and both Manchester clubs.
Plus, the likes of Trossard are knocking on the door from the bench, Thomas Partey has returned from injury and Kai Havertz also produced a positive display from the bench against his former side.
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