Premier League urgently announces 'fraud' incident involving Arsenal

Premier League officials have acknowledged that Arsenal benefited from a serious VAR error in their 1-0 victory over Brighton earlier this month.

Earlier this month, Arsenal secured a 1-0 win against Brighton at The Amex stadium thanks to the sole goal scored by Bukayo Saka.

However, Brighton argued that they should have been awarded a penalty late in the first half when Mats Wieffer was pulled down by Gabriel Martinelli. Nevertheless, referee Chris Kavanagh allowed play to continue, and the incident was reviewed by VAR overseer Michael Salisbury, who concluded there was "no clear and obvious error".

However, the Premier League's Key Incidents Panel stated that Brighton should have received a penalty. The conclusion specified: “Martinelli did not look at the ball, held Wieffer within the penalty area, and prevented the Brighton player from contesting the ball.”

The panel voted 4-1 that a penalty should have been awarded on the field, and 3-2 that VAR missed the intervention. Brighton's coach Fabian Hurzeler and his staff were furious with this decision, clashing with counterpart Mikel Arteta during the match and later accused Arsenal of time-wasting at the end of the game.

Notably, this is the second time Arsenal has avoided a penalty this season, after also escaping one in the match against Everton last December.

In that incident, William Saliba's foul on Thierno Barry was not deemed a foul by VAR, and referee Salisbury was also the VAR overseer for that match.

This decision cost Everton the opportunity to equalize from a penalty kick. Frustrated by VAR's decision, coach David Moyes said: “I want to talk about the exchange with the referee but I might get fined. You need to find a way for us to discuss referees, otherwise don't ask me anymore.”

Currently, Arsenal holds a significant advantage in the Premier League title race. "The Gunners" lead with 70 points, far ahead of Manchester City trailing by nine points despite having played one more match. With only eight rounds remaining, coach Mikel Arteta and his team certainly will not want to slip up in their quest to lift the Premier League trophy for the first time after a 22-year-long wait.