04 May 2024 , 15:09
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Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola accused Kai Havertz of fooling the officials to win Arsenal a penalty in the 3-0 romping of the Cherries.
Havertz went down under the challenge of goalkeeper Mark Travers in the first half and Iraola feels the German knew exactly what he was doing. The Spaniard started his press conference by saying classily: "First of all I would like to say Arsenal deserved to win today. I don't agree with the penalty or the decision for the disallowed goal. But I want to repeat, Arsenal deserved to win and were better than us.
"I don't think the game should have gone the way it has gone. I don't agree with the decisions, especially the disallowed goal. For me, Kai Havertz is the one trying to find the contact in the last moment, he is not going to the ball to score a goal.
"He tries to leave the leg but if they find any contact there, they will give a penalty. With the VAR they think because there is contact they cannot overturn it. We also lose the five six minutes of checking every angle."
Iraola also hit out at the decision to chalk off Antoine Semenyo's goal for a foul on David Raya. He continued: "For me, it's also a penalty on Philip Billing or it's a goal. I don't understand the decision. They called a foul on Dominic Solanke but the foul on Billing was before that."
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He later added on Ryan Christie's tackle on Bukayo Saka, which could easily have been red: "They told me. I don't think it's a red card. This is what happens, we get red card, it's three games and then after two days we are told it's not a red card.
"The punishment for a red card is one month without working, it has to be very clear."
Bournemouth were beaten 3-0 by Arsenal at the Emirates (Robin Jones - AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Image)Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta laid bare Arsenal's desperation to end their 20-year wait for the Premier League title.
The win kept the heat on Manchester City and when asked how he was feeling with two matches to play, Arteta said: "We've done it for nine months now so with two weeks to go, we really want to get it done. We are closer than we were yesterday and hopefully we can bring that Premier League title here."
Arteta also paid tribute to £105million club-record signing Declan Rice and £65m summer arrival Kai Havertz for their crucial roles in the destruction of the Cherries.
The Arsenal boss added: "If we spend money, we better do it wisely and in the most effective way and we are really happy with the impact that Declan had.
"He's raised not only the level of the team but today we had another big performance and we needed that."
Arteta said of Havertz: "He was unbelievable today, honestly, the timing of his movements, how he keeps the ball, how he links with players, his understanding of the game, he was unbelievable."