Both Declan Rice and Christian Eriksen appeared to notice a mistake made by referee Anthony Taylor during Arsenal’s draw with Manchester United.
The Gunners went behind to a Bruno Fernandes free-kick just before half-time, with his effort beating the outstretched hand of David Raya.
Gary Neville questioned the distance of the Arsenal wall just before it flew into the back of the net, which brought about further questions.
That was later measured, revealing that the distance was 11.2 yards rather than the usual ten yards for a wall.
It was a clear mistake from Anthony Taylor, which the players have now spoken out about following Arsenal’s draw with Manchester United.
Declan Rice and Christian Eriksen on Anthony Taylor error during Manchester United vs Arsenal
Speaking after the game, Declan Rice was quizzed about the distance and whether he noticed it when he was part of the wall.
When asked about it by Sky Sports, he said: “I’ve not seen the goal back, it felt like a couple of us jumped and some of us didn’t but I’ve not actually seen it back.
“It felt like the ball flew over us at quite a low height so it probably from the wall’s perspective could’ve done a lot better.
“I’ve not seen it back yet… It did feel far back because even on our free-kick when Martin took it, they felt far back as well, more far back than usual but Anthony is the ref, he makes that decision.”
It wasn’t just Rice who noticed that though, as the former Tottenham player Christian Eriksen revealed that he saw the wall distances too.
He told Sky Sports: “Very good [free-kick], happy that the wall was a few metres away. You saw how far back they were and it was beneficial for us.”
That in itself is a damning indictment of the mistake made by Taylor, though it may have been preventable by Arsenal.
Arsenal should’ve copied Man United trick in free-kick problem
The one difference between Arsenal and Manchester United when it came to those far free-kicks, was the sneaky movements forward.
The Red Devils were seen edging forward slightly to get closer to the ten-yard mark that was seemingly missed by Anthony Taylor.
Despite Arsenal having their suspicions about the distance, their inability to move forward slightly and take matters into their hands has come as a blow.
If they were slightly smarter about it, they could have prevented the goal and perhaps walk away with a different result.
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