FA urged to change law following William Saliba decision during Arsenal draw vs Chelsea

Former Premier League boss Alan Pardew has told the FA to change the handball law following Arsenal's dramatic 2-2 draw against Chelsea last weekend. The Gunners fell behind after William Saliba was deemed to have handled the ball inside the penalty area — with Cole Palmer converting from the spot.

Mykhailo Mudryk doubled the Blues' lead in the second half — before goals from Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard salvaged a point for Mikel Arteta's side. Arsenal now sit two points behind North London rivals Tottenham at the top of the table.

Pardew believes Saliba was unfairly punished for handling the ball in his own area after VAR reviewed the incident, recommending referee Chris Kavanagh to head over to the pitchside monitor, which ultimately saw him point to the spot. Pardew admitted, in the current state of the law, that a penalty was the right decision — but he believes the wording of an «unnatural» arm position must be changed.

The former Premier League manager told talkSPORT: «My view is that unnatural arm movement, I have a problem with that whole concept because 'unnatural arm movement' is very difficult to assess. I've coached players for 30 years and whenever they're defending, when they're throwing their bodies around, when they're trying to get a block in, when they're unbalanced and they have to get back on balance, their arms are always in unnatural positions — but it's not until the ball hits it that it does look unnatural.

»Saliba goes up in that position and he's literally trying to head the ball and it hits his arm. Okay, as the rule stands it's a penalty and I get that, I've got no problem with that.

«But it's the rule that we need to change. Fans are not stupid, they're smart people. Every Chelsea fan in