Arsenal stars take to social media to react to penalty drama vs Burnley/Why Cedric was not in squad

A pair of Arsenal stars have taken to social media this afternoon, to provide their respective post-game reactions to what looked a nailed-on penalty not being awarded, during their meeting with Burnley.

Wood cancels out Auba

Mikel Arteta’s men made the trip to Turf Moor a short time ago, for the club’s latest Premier League outing.

The Gunners headed into proceedings with their tails up, having followed up a crucial Europa League victory over Benfica with an impressive downing of Leicester City at the King Power last time out.

When all was said and done this afternoon, however, Arsenal’s mini resurgence was brought to a halt.

A drama-filled affair at Turf Moor eventually played out into a 1-1 draw, to see both sides forced to settle for a share of the spoils.

It was the visitors who opened the game’s scoring, when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang found the near corner of Nick Pope’s net with a pinpoint strike:

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang making it look easy 😎

A dream start for Arsenal at Turf Moor! pic.twitter.com/QaAZAerao0

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 6, 2021

Arsenal, though, went on to prove the architects of their own downfall shortly before the interval, when Granit Xhaka’s misplaced pass out from the back deflected home off the hip of Chris Wood, handing Burnley a point on a silver platter:

A disaster at the back for Arsenal results in a gift of a goal for Burnley 🎁

Chris Wood will never score an easier goal in his life! pic.twitter.com/h4jYPBebWN

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 6, 2021

‘Move forward’

Xhaka’s moment of madness, when all was said and done, however, did not prove the afternoon’s main talking point.

Instead, this surrounded the decision not to award Arsenal a 2nd-half penalty, when, with a quarter of an hour remaining, Erik Pieters rather blatantly handled the ball in the hosts’ box:

🧐 pic.twitter.com/MidUsij5HJ

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 6, 2021

The widespread consensus both during and after the matchup’s conclusion was that the Gunners had been majorly hard done-by, amid further calls for the amendment of the handball rule.

And one individual who evidently shares such an opinion is Willian.

Taking to Instagram post-match, Arsenal’s Brazilian wide-man highlighted the penalty incident, accompanied by a simple caption:

Willian on Instagram story: “🤔”, highlighting Pieters’ outstretched arm handball that wasn’t given as a penalty. [IG: willianborges88] #afc pic.twitter.com/JQ7ZgIbhpq

— afcstuff (@afcstuff) March 6, 2021

Willian’s teammate and captain, on the other hand, was keen to urge the north Londoners to move on from the situation, albeit whilst suggesting that Arteta’s men should have come away victorious, with or without a spot-kick:

Let’s be honest VAR on the side
In this Game When you produce chances as we did Today we should won this Game but it is what it is!! Let’s move forward big week coming #COYG

— AUBA⚡️ (@Aubameyang7) March 6, 2021

In a final piece of news surrounding Arsenal’s squad this afternoon, meanwhile, an explanation has been provided for Cedric Soares’ absence from the club’s squad at Turf Moor.

The Portuguese has of course been in solid form of late, with his complete omission on Saturday having therefore come as something of a surprise.

As per the reliable Charles Watts, though, Cedric was simply rested, with the stopper having actually been present at today’s clash, albeit in the stands:

Cedric watching on from the stands here. Given a rest today. pic.twitter.com/ZcjWIrrjgY

— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) March 6, 2021

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Source: 101greatgoals.com