Unexpectedly, Ollie Watkins has argued that Arsenal was unfairly treated after their third goal in Saturday’s exciting 2-2 tie was called off for a handball.

Gabriel Martinelli gave the Gunners the lead, and Kai Havertz extended the lead soon after the half, but goals from Youri Tielemans and Watkins even the score.

On the same day when Aston Villa once again stopped Arsenal at the Emirates, Liverpool came late to defeat Brentford and widen the gap at the top of the table.

He told Sky Sports, “I am not sure, but I think it’s gone in our favor. If that were against me, I think I would be disappointed.” I’m not sure from that perspective, but that’s the purpose of VAR.

We went up the field after Youri gave us the goal, and he came very close to scoring again. That gave us a lot of energy and confidence that there would be opportunities as we continued our shift.

We were man-for-man at the back, with Gabriel on me and Partey on Jacob. I could have performed better a couple of times in the first half.

“Arsenal was always a little bit open and there were chances to be taken.”

The Gunners, who have now only won once in their previous five games in all competitions, suffered a crushing defeat.

Newcastle and Manchester United suffered back-to-back home losses in the cup competitions after a draw against Brighton, while Villa’s tie followed a midweek victory in the North London derby.

Late in the game, Havertz ran off to celebrate his deflected goal before VAR chalked it off, seemingly feeling that he had done enough to secure a crucial victory for his team.

Perhaps Havertz wasn’t sure, but Paul Merson in the Sky Sports studio didn’t need much persuading that the “goal” was real.

“It’s unbelievable that Havertz fled.” After it struck his hand, he fled. The former Arsenal legend remarked, “I can understand if it’s in the Championship, you’re going to get away with it, there’s no VAR.”

‘As a player, certainl,y you know,’ remarked Lee Hendrie, who expressed a similar lack of conviction.

‘It’s not a tight one,’ Merson noted.

Arsenal will need to regroup after Saturday’s disappointing draw in front of their home crowd before playing again in the Champions League midweek against Dinamo Zagreb.

In the meantime, Villa is eager to travel to Monaco on Tuesday in an attempt to increase their chances of making it to the next round of Europe’s greatest competition.