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“Wenger points finger at referee after defeat to Chelsea”

02 Dec 2009

By Josh Allen 

Arsene Wenger has criticised referee Andre Marriner for disallowing a goal early in the second half, as his side succumbed to a 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea. 

The Gunners were trailing 2-0 at the time and would have been right back in the game, were it not for what Wenger described as “a massive mistake”; which could end up costing Arsenal in terms of their Premier League odds.

Russian Andre Arshavin appeared to have slotted home after Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech spilled a cross. However, the referee deemed Eduardo to have fouled the keeper as he went to claim the ball. 

After the match, Wenger said: “The turning point was the referee's decision [to disallow the goal],”  

“Personally I believe it was not a serious decision, that was very unfair.  

“How can he see Eduardo kicking Cech when it was a Chelsea player who stops him from controlling the ball?  

“It would have been a very important goal in this kind of game and that was a big mistake by the referee.” 

The Frenchman believes that video technology would have resulted in the goal being awarded and he also thinks that referee's are against the idea. 

He said: “You can see on the replay that Eduardo doesn't even intervene. He [Marriner] said to me it was dangerous play, that Eduardo had kicked the ball out of Cech's hands. He is not even in there, Eduardo.  

“It's important that in big games referees do not make big mistakes and influence the result and today it was a mistake from the referee.” 

He added: “I personally think the referees do not want video. It's difficult to understand why.