Mikel Arteta praises brave referee decision after controversial VAR check against West Ham
Post-Match Interview: Mikel Arteta
Post-Match Interview: Mikel Arteta
Arsenal vs. West Ham
Interviewer: Mikel, if you were a scriptwriter in Hollywood and wanted to write the script about Arsenal winning the league after 22 years, you wouldn’t have chosen a better script than what happened today. The question is, how was your heart rate following that writing on the pitch?
Mikel Arteta: “Well, everybody’s telling me I should wear one of those watches, but I don’t wanna do it because I know where they’re gonna show it. It has been like this all week. Because we’ve had a big, big week for us, for all of us. We had a really tough game against a team that is playing for relegation. They have an incredible necessity to get points. And we tried till the end. We made changes, we threw everything that we’ve got to try and make it happen.”
“If you want to win big things there are moments, and that is a big moment.” pic.twitter.com/TyAVPi5iHw
— Gunners (@Gunnersc0m) May 10, 2026
On the Match-Winning Moments
Mikel Arteta: “Martin created an unbelievable moment with Leo scoring the goal. David appeared in the right moments to save us in our individual action.”
On the Controversial VAR Decision
Mikel Arteta: “It’s also been a time when sometimes I’m being critical with referees or doubting about the consistency. Today I think they took a decision that was really brave. Because it wasn’t easy. But he was really brave, at least to the point that you had to be checked and give the opportunity to the VAR to referee again in all of the chaos. So to look at the action with more clarity. And when you look at it with clarity, I think it’s very clear that it’s a foul and it’s the right decision. So thank you.
You can understand that West Ham are grieved by this decision and they are saying, ‘If it’s clear and obvious, why did it take five minutes?’ But because of the magnitude of the game or what’s at stake, you understand why it took so long. Well, I don’t know, because when you look on camera it’s very obviously clear. David has the ball in his hands, almost on their hand is going almost in his throat. It doesn’t allow him to catch the ball. And we’ve been told from the beginning that it’s a foul. So I’m glad he made this decision. In my opinion it’s very clear that it was a foul.”
On David Raya’s Impact
Interviewer: David Raya already is the best keeper, his most clean sheets. I can see your initial reaction is to go hug him, because at that moment in the game, 0-0, it was crucial. Big, big moment.
Mikel Arteta: “If you want to win big things, there are moments, and that is a big moment.”
