A former Gunners hero lamented the decision to allow Erling Haaland’s goal to stand in Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Arsenal
Ex-Arsenal star Lauren insisted Erling Haaland’s goal should have been ruled out in Manchester City’s 2-1 win while praising his former side for not signing Antoine Semenyo.
The Gunners have lost back-to-back Premier League games for the first time this season following last week’s 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth and Sunday’s loss to City in a brutal blow to their title hopes.
Pep Guardiola’s side can now go top if they beat Burnley at Turf Moor on Wednesday with just five games to go. However, their victory at the Etihad Stadium was questioned by Lauren, who claimed Haaland’s winner should have been wiped away because he pulled Gabriel’s shirt in the lead-up to the goal.
The pair have been embroiled in an on-pitch rivalry over the last few years, and even went head-to-head physically in Sunday’s thrilling clash, for which they each received a yellow card. Discussing the City striker’s actions, the former full-back told CasinoWizard: “For me [Erling] Haaland was the one doing the fouling.
“Then you have to put your body in. You have to try to be strong and don’t lose your balance. But I think it was nothing. Even in the goal that Haaland scored, he pulled his shirt. It should have been a foul and a disallowed goal.
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“I mean, have a look at the action properly. I believe that that one was a foul that the referee didn’t see and it changed the game.”
One of City’s January additions, Marc Guehi, enjoyed an impressive showing on Sunday, while Antoine Semenyo struggled to impose himself in the game.
Regardless of his performance, the Ghana international has had a strong start to life at City with eight goals in 19 games, but Lauren insisted there would have been no point in Arsenal signing him back in January with Max Dowman in tow.
Semenyo was loosely linked with Arsenal, but the Gunners never entered the transfer race.
The ex-Cameroon international explained: “Why try to sign [Antoine] Semenyo [in January] when we have [Max] Dowman? There is nothing Semenyo can do that Dowman can’t do the same. Give him some games, give him some confidence and then let him talk.
“Let him express himself. He has the quality, the intelligence, he can shoot, he can nick passes between the lines. Why would Arsenal sign Semenyo? There is more, much more to come from this boy. We have to give him the right confidence. We have to give them the games he needs in order to develop.
“He’s got everything and he should be in the England squad this summer. Of course he has to learn. There’s a lot to learn when you start playing 90 minutes consistently. A lot you learn from the changing room. But that’s the only way to do it. You have to play week in week out.”
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