I have just seen the post match comments from Arsene Wenger after Arsenal let a two goal lead slip away to West Ham and needed a third goal just to get a point from a game that we surely had to win to stay in the Premier League title race.
The boss told the BBC that he thought it was a crazy game and that he was disappointed about the way that the Arsenal defenders dealt with the West Ham hat-trick hero Andy Carroll. He also praised his players for showing the spirit and resolve to bounce back from the blow of conceding three quick goals.
After that the Frenchman felt that either side could have won it, but he had no doubts whatsoever that the referee Craig Pawson made a big mistake that almost certainly cost Arsenal the game, the points and ultimately our last hopes of the title. Wenger said it was a clear second yellow for Carroll after he caught Gabriel with an elbow.
Replays showed it was definitely a booking at least and Carroll was already on a yellow and the fact that this was before his third goal makes it even worse for Arsenal. But were we robbed by the ref? Not this time I think as the replays also showed him colliding with a player just as the collision happened so he probably couldn’t be sure.
He was also fairly consistent in his leniency to both sides and we got the benefit of a wrongly disallowed goal with the scores at 0-0 which could also have turned the game. Sorry Arsene, we can’t blame the ref this time.