Media bias: Arsenal get lucky as Burnley go down in the 98th minute
Media Bias: In a crazy end to what had looked like a routine win for Arsenal, Burley scored from the spot in the 94th minute. And then Laurent Koscielny was caught in the head by a high Ben Mee boot. Penalty! Arsenal scored it in the 98th minute and the game is won 2-1.
With Arsenal 1-0 up, the Gunners’ Granit Xhaka was sent off for a lunge on Steven Defour. Then his manager Arsene Wenger was sent off for arguing with the officials.
What says the media about Arsenal’s last-gasps penalty?
The BBC: [Referee Jon] Moss penalised Mee for a high foot on Koscielny, who appeared to be offside when the free-kick was flighted in to the back post, but once that was missed, a penalty was a fair result for the challenge.
So the Arsenal man was offside. But the penalty was fair?
The Guardian calls it an “excellent decision from the referee”.
The Burnley Express is less delighted. Its match report harked back to the teams’ previous meeting, when Arsenal scored a winner late on.
After Laurent Koscielny was central to the storm at Turf Moor in October, handling the ball over the line from an offside position late on, the Frenchman was in the thick of it once more.
That goal came in the 94th minute.
The Burnley Express continues:
Referee Jon Moss awarded a penalty… penalising Ben Mee for a high boot on the Arsenal skipper who, for a second time, was stood in an offside position.
The London Evening Standard merely says of the incident, “Laurent Koscielny was kicked by Ben Mee in the area.”
The Burnley FC website calls the penalty “controversial”.
The Arsenal website sees no controversy:
Alexis swung in a cross from the left that arrowed towards the far post, where Ben Mee caught Laurent Koscielny in the face with a high boot. Moss awarded Arsenal the penalty and Alexis, showing incredible composure, sent a panenka down the middle from the spot to seal a precious victory.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 22nd, January 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
