Mikel Arteta responds to debate over Arsenal wall before Bruno Fernandes scores brilliant free-kick

Evening Standard

·9 mars 2025

Mikel Arteta responds to debate over Arsenal wall before Bruno Fernandes scores brilliant free-kick

Replays showed Gunners were 11.2 yards away from ball before first-half strike

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Mikel Arteta had no issue with Bruno Fernandes taking advantage of the wall for his free-kick against Arsenal being more than 10 yards away and praised the Manchester United for being streetwise.

Fernandes gave United the lead against Arsenal, curling home a free-kick just before half time.

Replays have since shown that the wall was 11.2 yards away, instead of the 10 required, but Arteta has not hit out at referee Anthony Taylor.

The Arsenal boss has, instead, said how Fernandes was clever to make the most of the situation.

“They just mentioned that if Bruno is on that, football is for smart street players and if he’s done that and capitalised on that, he was more clever than us and the referee,” he said.

“I don't know, but he’s done it, it was a goal, so they took advantage of that. Football is for clever people.”

Declan Rice, who scored Arsenal’s equaliser as they claimed a 1-1 draw, noticed how the wall was more than 10 yards away.

“I’ve not seen the goal back,” he said. “It felt like the ball flew over us at a low height. It (the wall for the free-kick) did feel far back. Anthony is the ref, he makes that decision.”

The Gunners’ title charge is not mathematically over, but Liverpool are now 15 points clear of them.

Arsenal have a game in hand on Liverpool, however they have just 10 matches to rein them.

“I don't want to say that [the title race is over], but today the frustration is that we haven’t won our game,” said Arteta.

“We know the urgency and you’re obligated to win every single match. You won’t have any chance of doing that, I don’t think it’s the right moment to talk about that.

“Frustrating not to win the game, but with everything that we did, especially in the first half, it’s 43-44 minutes.

“The dominance, how we dominate every aspect of the game, full control, we lacked a little bit in the last 15-20 metres, that showed to have more purpose, more direction, the last pass, the last action, but the game is clearly for us and going in the direction that we wanted.

“Unfortunately, one long ball, we don’t manage that ball well, we give it away, we create a foul, in a really dangerous area when you have to rely on them not taking advantage of the quality.

“That’s a really bad bet against Manchester United, they capitalised on that in the second half.”