Controversial penalty earns West Brom draw over Arsenal

Arsenal were denied victory on their manager Arsene Wenger's big day as West Bromwich Albion snatched a dramatic late point in a 1-1 Premier League draw on Sunday. In Wenger's record 811th game in charge, James McClean deflected in Alexis Sanchez’s 83rd-minute free kick to put Arsenal on course for three points.

31 December Arsene Wenger manages @Arsenal in a #PL match for an 811th time, moving past Sir Alex Ferguson’s previous best pic.twitter.com/pmJx8fw8HJ

— Premier League (@premierleague) December 31, 2017

But Calum Chambers was harshly adjudged to have handled in the penalty area and Jay Rodriguez converted an 89th-minute spot-kick to help his side climb off the bottom of the table. The Arsenal players were furious with the decision and Wenger was spoken to by referee Mike Dean but his team did climb above Tottenham Hotspur into fifth place in the table.

Petr Cech has faced 13 penalties at Arsenal. Opponents have converted all 13 ? pic.twitter.com/KFR5eSH0Gh

— Goal (@goal) December 31, 2017

“I did fight many years ago for referees to become professional, but unfortunately their levels do not go up. It is difficult to accept,” Wenger told Sky Sports. A knee injury kept Mesut Ozil out of the Arsenal side and they missed the guile of the Germany international as they struggled to create any real openings in the first half.

There's no @MesutOzil1088 in #WBAvAFC - he misses out with a slight knee injury pic.twitter.com/R4x5KNfPJX

— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) December 31, 2017

After the break, Arsenal upped the tempo and Alexandre Lacazette twice went close to scoring, but was denied by a fine Ben Foster stop in the home goal before poking wide from close range. Rodriguez then had space to shoot for goal, but his tame strike was easily beaten away by Petr Cech. In the final 10 minutes, the game came to life.

Arsenal are seething. ? pic.twitter.com/Lp02ZhJuBD

— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 31, 2017

Sanchez’s free kick found the net after taking a flick off McClean who was standing on the edge of the wall. “You can’t turn your back on it like that,” West Brom manager Alan Pardew said. "It is there for everyone to see. So he will have to learn.” As West Brom pressed for an equaliser, Kieran Gibbs tried to clip a cross into the middle, the ball hit Chambers on the arm and Dean pointed to the spot. Rodriguez stepped up and calmly drilled the penalty down the middle to ensure Arsenal have won just twice in seven league games.