Izuchukwu OkosiFormer Super Eagles left back, Ifeanyi Udeze believes that Arsenal’s goalless draw against Newcastle United at the Emirates stadium on Tuesday is only a blip but is adamant that the penalties complaint by the Gunners in the game was unjustifiable.
The game ended on a scoreless note despite Arsenal’s best efforts to score a winner.
Their industry was frustrated by Newcastle’s defensive structure but more importantly was two penalty shouts that were overlooked.
Udeze bared his mind while analysing the game on Brila FM, Lagos as monitored by Prime Business Africa.
The Premier League leaders would have gone 10 points clear of current champions Manchester City had they claimed all three points.
READ ALSO: Arteta Confident Of Arsenal’s Premier League Title Chances
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was left fuming after the match as referee Bob Madley failed to give the North London side two penalties.
“In my opinion, the penalties that Mikel Arteta complained about were not legitimate penalties.
“We could see that the defender had his hand in a natural position. If he had an outstretched hands, that would have been different.
“The rules of the game have changed. Some years ago, that would pass as penalty.
“For the second one, perhaps the referee felt that it wasn’t sufficient enough to be given. It’s left for the VAR officials to call his attention to it.
“Almost every club have benefitted from questionable officiating at some point,” Udeze posited.
“I believe it’s just a bad day in the office. I’m tipping them to beat Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby.
Arsenal are still eight points above City who will face Chelsea on Thursday evening with the Gunners hoping that Chelsea will defeat the current league champions.
Before Spurs, Arsenal’s next fixture is an FA Cup game against Oxford United on Monday.
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.
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