The Premier League title race in the 2025/26 season is between Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
The Gunners are leading the way at the moment and have entered the new year five points clear of City at the top of the Premier League table.
The Sky Blues do have a game in hand, where a win would reduce the gap back to two points, but that difference could well have been non-existent.
That’s because the Premier League have confirmed that Arsenal benefited from a refereeing error recently.
If Arsenal could only win one trophy out of the Premier League and the Champions League this season, which one would you pick and why?
William Saliba prefers the Champions League. What about you?
Premier League confirm refereeing mistake in Arsenal’s win
Arsenal have been on the wrong end of several poor refereeing decisions over the years.
An argument can be made that the reason why the Gunners haven’t won a Premier League title over the last three seasons is because of terrible officiating.
There have been a few poor calls against Arsenal this season as well, but the Gunners were on the right end of one for a change recently.
During the game against Everton, William Saliba caught Thierno Barry inside the box while trying to kick the ball away, and the Toffees striker went down.
The Gunners were leading 1-0 at that point after winning a penalty of their own in the first half, and the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel have now revealed that Everton deserved one too.
The five-person panel was split on the decision, with three of them claiming that Saliba should’ve been punished in that action.
“Saliba carelessly kicks Barry with no contact on the ball,” they said, as per the Daily Mail, and claimed that was a clear and obvious error from the referee, Sam Barrott.
Picture this, the roles are reversed and Arsenal call for a penalty here, what is your reaction?
Pep Guardiola will be furious with the Premier League’s admission about Arsenal
Everton boss David Moyes was not happy that his side weren’t given a penalty against Arsenal, but one man who will be much angrier is Pep Guardiola.
Had the Toffees received the spot kick, scored, and the game finished 1-1, Manchester City would be just three points behind the Gunners right now with a game in hand.
That means they would effectively be level on points with the North Londoners, and Guardiola’s men would’ve been ahead on goal difference.
Arsenal definitely got away with one against Everton, so the Manchester City boss has every reason to be angry after the Premier League confirmed the referee’s mistake.
However, City got away with one against Nottingham Forest too, when Ruben Dias escaped a second yellow card when the game was still 0-0.
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