Gabriel Jesus claims that referee Robert Jones told him he needed to fall to the ground in order to win a penalty in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Southampton on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta’s side lost ground at the top of the Premier League as Granit Xhaka’s early opener was cancelled out by Stuart Armstrong’s second-half goal.
But Arsenal felt they should have been awarded a penalty in the first half after Duje Caleta-Car held back Jesus inside Southampton’s area.
Jesus tried staying on his feet during the move and the Brazil international claims that went against him when the referee made the call not to penalise Caleta-Car.
‘I spoke with him straight after and he said. ‘if you go down before maybe I can give a penalty’.
But I think I was fair. I tried to hold, tried to keep standing, tried to finish the action but at the end he grabbed me and it was impossible, so I go down normally.
But that is not the reason why we didn’t win the game. We had a lot of chances, we could’ve scored three chances in the first half, in the second half we had some chances, me as well.
‘Like I said, what is in control is our game, our basics, we’ll try to rest now because Thursday we have another one and we’ll come back strong.’
Arsenal face PSV Eindhoven on Thursday night, neding just a point to seal a first-placed finish in Europa League Group A with a game to spare.
The Gunners hold a five-point lead over their second-placed Dutch counterparts, who could be left to battle for second place with Bodo/Glimt.
