Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has accused VAR official Lee Mason, who was in charge during the controversial 1-1 draw with Brentford, of not understanding the complete consequences and ramifications of his job. 

Mason missed a clear offside call in the buildup to Brentford’s equaliser that not only denied Arsenal all three points at the Emirates Stadium, but could also have a significant say in the Premier League title race.

Arsenal were arriving to the match on the back of a shock 1-0 loss to relegation-struggling outfit Everton in Merseyside. Surely, this was a shock also betting lovers.  Arteta was looking for a response from his side but surprisingly, Brentford had the majority of chances in the first half. Had Ivan Toney been more accurate with his finishing, they could’ve been two goals up.

However, Arsenal made the most of those missed chances and took the lead in the second half through Leandro Trossard, who scored his first goal for the club. The Bees got back on level terms through Toney who finally put one in. However, Christian Norgaard was offside during the build-up to the goal but VAR allowed the goal to stand.

A former official himself, Mason became a dedicated VAR last season. However, he failed to investigate the complete passage of play including checking for a potential offside and has been asked to stand down for the upcoming weekend’s fixtures in the English top flight. For more information about football matches and news go to Nextbet. 

Although Arteta acknowledged the apology offered by the referees’ chief, Howard Webb, on Sunday, he took issue with the explanation, issued by PGMOL, that the aberration had been down to “human error”.

“We ended the game with huge anger and disappointment because that wasn’t a human error,” he said. “That was a big ‘not conceiving and understanding your job’ and it’s not acceptable. 

That costs Arsenal two points that aren’t going to be restored. We’re going to have to find those two points somewhere in the league.

“At the same time we appreciate the apology and the explanations, and we got a lot of sympathy from colleagues in the industry. We have to move on.

“This has certainly made the players, staff and our fans stronger, and given them more desire to pass this hurdle they’ve put on us.”