Former referee chief Keith Hackett believes Manchester United should've received a penalty against Arsenal on Sunday.
The Gunners recorded their third Premier League win of the season by beating United 3-1 at the Emirates. Martin Odegaard's strike cancelled out Marcus Rashford's opener before added-time goals from Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus won it for the hosts.
Yet the game wasn't without controversy. United boss Erik ten Hag wasn't happy with several refereeing decisions by Anthony Taylor, including the failure to award a penalty for Gabriel Magalhaes' challenge on Rasmus Hojlund in the box.
The score was 1-1 at the time and a penalty could've switched the momentum in United's failure. Hackett believes the visitors were unlucky not to receive a spot kick for "wrestling" and has urged referees to award fouls for such incidents.
Hackett, who was in charge in the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), offered his opinion on Sunday's game in his column for The Telegraph. "The incident that the United manager refers to is one that could be punished either way, but I can see why Ten Hag would feel this is a penalty," he noted.
"Grappling in the penalty area has been a problem for referees in the Premier League and we do see both defender and forward wrestling with each other. These actions are often ignored by referees.
"I believe this is an area that should result in more penalty kicks or free kicks and I have been stating that for a number of years. In the past we have seen Harry Maguire commit holding offences and they too have gone unpunished, much to my dismay."Ten Hag has expressed his disappointment at Taylor's performance. He believes his team should've had a penalty for the incident involving Gabriel and Hojlund, and he thinks Rice's goal should've been chalked off due to Gabriel holding Jonny Evans in the build up.
The Dutchman also claims Alejandro Garnacho's late strike should've stood. United's young winger thought he'd won the game after finding the net, only for VAR to declare he was offside. It was a marginal call and Arsenal capitalised by scoring twice.
"I think the performance is right for us," Ten Hag told Sky Sports. "We played a very good game but everything went against us. Then you don’t win the game. You need a little bit more luck to win the game. [Garnacho] is not offside. That is the wrong angle. We have to accept it but I see the angle. I don't see it as offside. But it doesn't change the result.
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"It is what it is, you have to accept it. The penalty on Hojlund and when we concede the goal it's a clear foul on Evans. You can say finish your chances and don’t concede after going 1-0 up, but I am happy with the performance and it was a step forward."
Hackett can appreciate Ten Hag's frustration with the offside call, questioning the technology used by PGMOL. Yet he does believe Taylor was right to let Rice's goal stand.
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