Jakub Kiwior has insisted he was fouled in the build up to Brighton‘s first goal despite being criticised by Gary Neville and Roy Keane after Arsenal‘s hopes of winning the Premier League were all but extinguished on Sunday.
After a goalless first-half, Roberto De Zerbi’s side swept the Gunners away in the second period of the match, to defeat the Gunners 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium with Julio Enciso opening the scoring, capitalising on an Arsenal defence in disarray.
Breaking down the left wing, Pervis Estupinan played a bouncing cross into a melee of players in the box. One of which was Kiwior, who while marking Enciso, appeared to be stood on by Evan Ferguson, with his boot coming off in the process.
Dropping to his feet, the Polish centre-back appeared to be in some pain after his coming together with the Brighton striker, but left his man unmarked inside the six-yard box, allowing the Paraguayan to head home and give the away side the lead.
After the match, Neville and Micah Richards exchanged in a debate over whether Kiwior was fouled in the build-up but the Arsenal man has had his say on the incident claiming the goal should have been ‘chalked off’.
‘I felt contact and lost my boot and didn’t even see the goal,’ the centre-back told Viaplay after the game.
‘I hoped VAR would intervene and chalk off the goal, but unfortunately, the ref saw it differently.
‘After we conceded the second our heads dropped and we couldn’t come back.’
During the game, Neville said that the defender should have got back to his feet despite losing one of his boots to defend the oncoming threat from Brighton.
He told Sky Sports: ‘As a centre half, surely you just have to stand up and let the attack finish?’
He also said he thought that Keane and Patrick Vieira would both have something to say about Kiwior’s defending after the match and he was right, with the former Arsenal midfielder admitting that Kiwior wasn’t fouled by Ferguson.
Kiwior gets stepped on!! #afc #var no goal! pic.twitter.com/i1eKhL5wD8
— JR (@txngunner) May 14, 2023
‘I think the question that you need to ask is, is it intentional,’ Vieira said. ‘And I don’t think that foul is intentional. I think it’s just like, the contact, yes. But to be harsh, that goal has to be allowed.
‘You expect your centre back to be strong enough to stay there and defend first,’ he added.
Neville was also in agreement with the Frenchman, saying: ‘I didn’t see it as a challenge on the centre back. We’re just looking at something that looks like he’s [Ferguson’s] done him, but he’s not. He’s just made a run to the near post and he’s with someone else.’
Keane meanwhile criticised Kieran Tierney for failing to deal with the initial cross before saying Kiwior should have brushed it off and continued to defend.
‘You’re talking about putting your body on the line and defending this last-ditch stuff,’ He said. ‘You don’t stay down like that because his boot came off.’
But Micah Richards rallied to the defence of the centre-back, and when asked whether he thought Kiwior had a case, he said: ‘I actually think that is a foul.’
‘Ferguson’s foot just catches him. And I know the guys are going to say he could have been stronger. But his boot comes off.
‘People say you’ve got to be stronger – of course you can. You need to win to get the three points. But he’s not got a boot on his foot. In my opinion that is a foul and I think it should have been disallowed that goal.’
A disallowed goal could have changed the game but statistically Brighton did look the better side, having more shots on goal and possession than the Gunners.
Arsenal were unable to find the back of the net, succumbing to a poor defeat, and with the result have now dropped points in five of their last seven league games.
The result means that Mikel Arteta’s side are now four points adrift of Manchester City who sit at the top of the Premier League table.
