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Ferdinand labels Cedric not giving penalty away in Arsenal win a disgrace

Jordan Harris

Mon 25 April 2022 19:15, UK

Rio Ferdinand that he believes that it was a disgrace that Cedric Soares did not give away a penalty as Arsenal beat Manchester United on Saturday.

The Gunners picked up a massive victory in their battle to finish in the top-four in the Premier League. Mikel Arteta’s side followed their 4-2 win over Chelsea by bagging the three points against Ralf Rangnick’s men.

There were some controversy. Manchester United were awarded one penalty following a mistake from Nuno Tavares. But they perhaps felt that they could have been given two more.

Anthony Elanga went down after tussling with Tavares in the first-half. And there was another contentious moment when the ball struck Cedric on the arm. The Portuguese was scrambling as he fell to the ground and the ball rolled onto his arm.

The laws of the game would suggest that Craig Pawson was right not to penalise Cedric. However, Ferdinand admitted that he was absolutely baffled to see Arsenal get away with that one.

“The handball by Cedric, he took five paces with his hands crawling, it was a disgrace. How’s that not given is beyond me, it’s unreal,” .

Cedric Soares took risk as Arsenal defender went to ground

It would perhaps be a surprise if Cedric knew that the laws would be in his favour when he went to ground. It did appear that he could have done more to avoid the ball. So he did arguably take a risk.

Arsenal fans would have been furious had the decision gone against them had a Manchester United defender been in Cedric’s position. A look on social media will tell you that many Gunners supporters feel that they have not had their fair share of correct penalty decisions this season.

They may well feel therefore, that Cedric not giving away a penalty was a slice of luck that they deserved.