Media bias: Arsenal are robbed by West Bromwich Albion’s deserved penalty
Biased footballer reporting is very much in evidence in match reports on West Bromwich Albion’s 1–1 draw with Arsenal. Having taken the lad with an 83rd minute own goal, the Gunners were denied a win when Albion scored an 89th minute penalty. Referee Mike Dean decided that it was hand ball when, as the Arsenal website puts it “former Gunner Kieran Gibbs flicked the ball into Calum Chambers’ hand in the area”. The reporting is clear: any handball was not intentional.
Former referee Graham Poll uses his Daily Mail column to state: “It wasn’t a penalty. It should never have been a penalty.”
The Times says “Calum Chambers was penalised for handball when the ball was kicked at him from a yard away”.
But in the Express and Star, the local West Bromwich Albion newspaper, the report looks like this:
Having been the better team for large parts of the game, Alan Pardew’s team found themselves staring defeat in the face after Alexis Sanchez squeezed a free-kick through a brittle Baggies wall seven minutes from time.
There will be an inquest into that goal, which has officially gone down as a James McClean own goal, but in the 89th minute, referee Mike Dean pointed at the spot after Callum Chambers handled in the box.
No inquest about that.
And: “Albion hadn’t been awarded a spot-kick for more than 50 games, so they were certainly due one.”
So that’s alright, then.
Posted: 1st, January 2018 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, News, Sports Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
