Iraola: We’ll tell Liverpool players to go down in the box after Isak penalty was denied

Andoni Iraola said he would ask Liverpool players to go down in the penalty area in future after the referee did not award a penalty when Jurrien Timber pulled Alexander Isak’s shirt. Liverpool lost to Arsenal to a Kai Havertz goal, as Arsenal claimed their first win at Anfield in 14 years.

Liverpool had two penalty appeals turned down during the match. For the first, Timber’s pull on Isak prevented the striker from reaching a cross from Bradley Barcola, while the second appeal was rejected after Christos Tzolis held Cody Gakpo, despite a VAR review. Iraola said Isak had not gone to ground despite the pull, and felt that should not have been a reason to deny the penalty.

Iraola said he understood why Gakpo’s appeal was rejected, because the ball was high and far away and the player would not have reached it. However, he said that reasoning was inconsistent with the decision not to award a penalty for the incident involving Isak. Mikel Arteta was pleased with the win, noting that his team had bounced back from their defeat to Fleetwood in the Carabao Cup four days earlier, and that Arsenal had won at four grounds where they had not prevailed during their previous title-winning season, including Anfield.

Arteta added that he had not known his team had prevented Liverpool from registering a shot on target in a Premier League match for the first time in 16 years, describing it as a notable achievement against a team accustomed to shooting a lot.