William Saliba truth after Liverpool penalty controversy as Arsenal comments explained
William Saliba’s surprise verdict on a penalty decision during Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Liverpool has been explained. The French defender appeared to comment on the controversial Martin Odegaard handball decision that saw Liverpool miss out on being awarded a penalty at Anfield, but it has now been clarified that he was referring to an incident between Kai Havertz and Trent Alexander-Arnold in the second half.
Gabriel Magalhaes scored the opener from a free-kick after heading home inside 10 minutes — silencing the crowd at Anfield. However, Mohamed Salah equalised for Liverpool with the Merseyside outfit having the better of the chances in the match.
There was a key decision made by the match officials and VAR which sparked controversy on a huge night in the Premier League title race. The incident arrived when Salah attempted to play a pass forward, but it was blocked by the hand of Odegaard, although he had lost his footing with his arm therefore away from his body in preparation for him falling over.
«I think he may just slip there,» Gary Neville said during commentary on Sky Sports. «That right leg is giving way which means his left arm goes down.
»I think that’s what saves him [Odegaard]. I think he’s lucky but it might be that his foot gives way which means he puts his arm down to try and rebalance and that saves him."
After the game, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was perplexed that a penalty had not been awarded to his side after VAR took a look at the decision and decided not to intervene. «I'm pretty sure someone will explain to me it's not a handball but I don't know how,» Klopp admitted to Sky Sports.
Arsenal player ratings vs Liverpool as Rice and Gabriel superb but Martinelli and Zinchenko poor
Why
Read on football.london
