Izuchukwu OkosiArsenal manager Mikel Arteta believes Premier League officiating has significantly improved since his “strong” criticism of VAR following Arsenal’s controversial 1-0 defeat at Newcastle in November 2023.
Arteta was frustrated by what he considered an unfair advantage given to the Toons after a ball seemed to have crossed
The Spaniard labelled the decision to allow Anthony Gordon’s goal to stand in a 1-0 loss at St James’ Park as “embarrassing” and a “disgrace” in his post match press conference.
The Spaniard was later charged by the FA for breaking Rule E3.1 – which could have resulted in a ban but was instead cleared in December.
Arsenal now host Newcastle on Saturday looking to keep up the pace in the Premier League title race, as well as bounce back from their 1-0 Champions League last-16 first-leg defeat in Porto on Wednesday.
On whether he had seen an improvement in officiating and VAR since his post-match rant – which was backed up by an official statement from the club – Arteta at the pre match press conference replied: “Well that is what we all wanted.
“That at the end the decisions are better and I think the last stats that came across show that there was a significant improvement and a lot of the decisions they were getting right, so hopefully that is the case and we continue to do that.
“I talked the way I felt. I was very straight and I did it in a way that was pretty strong but within the law because I didn’t get charged for it and I think that tells the story.”
After impressive away wins at West Ham and Burnley which saw the Gunners score 11 goals in total, Arsenal suffered defeat in Portugal on Wednesday night to leave their Champions League progression hanging by the thread.
Porto did a great job of slowing the game down at the Estadio do Dragao, with 36 fouls awarded – a Champions League record this season – before Galeno hit a last-gasp winner.
Speaking after the game, Declan Rice admitted that Arsenal need to improve their “savviness” while Arteta admits his players need to develop their level of streetwise.
On the fitness front, Arteta revealed that Thomas Partey could return on Saturday evening, with a number of other recent injury absentees pushing to be in contention.
Partey has not played since suffering a thigh injury in October, while Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko could also return – while Takehiro Tomiyasu is still out.
Arteta also offered up good news on Jurrien Timber’s return – the summer signing having been out since suffering a serious knee injury on his Premier League debut in August.
Asked if Timber could play again this season, the Spaniard said: “I really hope so. He’s doing really well.
“He’s been with some players on the pitch. He’s going to start to do some bits with us on the pitch in the next week or so.
“Then we’ll have to see how he’s doing, his confidence level, his fitness level. Hopefully the answer will be yes.”
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
