Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech says he was unsighted for Manchester City‘s winning goal on Sunday because David Silva was blocking his view.
After Theo Walcott and Leroy Sane had exchanged goals, Raheem Sterling hit the winner, cutting inside Nacho Monreal and firing past Cech into the near post.
However, there was a question mark over the winning goal as Silva was in an offside position and appeared to make a movement towards the ball in front of Cech.
“For the second goal I didn’t see the shot and there were people running across,” he told Sky Sports.
“I don’t know if it was David Silva or not – I didn’t see the ball because there was someone in front.”
The offside rule states that if a player infers with play – i.e. distracts the goalkeeper or tries to touch the ball – they are active and a free-kick should be given.
Clearly Cech feels therefore that Silva was influencing play and Sterling’s goal should not have counted.
However, Arsenal were thoroughly outplayed in the second half by Pep Guardiola’s side, who created plenty of other opportunities to score and deserved the win.
Arsenal had gone 14 Premier League games unbeaten from the opening day defeat to Liverpool, but have now suffered consecutive losses, leaving them nine points adrift of league leaders Chelsea.
Arsene Wenger’s side have returned to their familiar fourth place and will now look to recover when they play West Brom on Boxing
Day.
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