Arsenal have released an official statement fully endorsing Mikel Arteta after his post-match comments, in which he criticized VAR. Arsenal lost their first Premier League game of the season in a controversial encounter with Newcastle United. The match at St James’ Park on Saturday, saw Anthony Gordon score the only goal of the game, after several minutes of VAR check. Meanwhile, Arsenal have now come out to defend their head coach, recognizing effort and performance displayed by the Arsenal players during match. 
The goal by Anthony Gordon during the match – Getty image Below is the statement: “Arsenal Football Club wholeheartedly supports Mikel Arteta’s post-match comments after yet more unacceptable refereeing and VAR errors on Saturday evening. “We’d also like to acknowledge the huge effort and performance from our players and travelling supporters at St James’ Park. “The Premier League is the best league in the world with the best players, coaches and supporters, all of whom deserve better. “PGMOL urgently needs to address the standard of officiating and focus on action which moves us all on from retrospective analysis, attempted explanations and apologies. “We support the ongoing efforts of Chief Refereeing Officer, Howard Webb and would welcome working together to achieve the world-class officiating standards our league demands.”
The US government has released a press statement congratulating the president-elect Bola Tinubu after he was declared winner of the 2023 elections. After congratulating Tinubu, the US government urged INEC to correct every error in the election results ahead of the Gubernatorial elections slated on March 11. The statement reads; We understand that many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted and the shortcomings of technical elements that were used for the first time in a presidential election cycle. Nigerians are clearly within their rights to have such concerns and should have high expectations for their electoral processes. We join other international observers in urging INEC to improve in the areas that need the most attention ahead of the March 11 gubernatorial elections. There are well-established mechanisms in place for the adjudication of electoral disputes, and we encourage any candidate or party seeking to challenge the outcome to pursue redress through those mechanisms. We call on all parties, candidates, and supporters to refrain from violence or inflammatory rhetoric at this critical time. We commend the active participation of civil society and the media in advancing electoral norms and political discourse on issues of importance to citizens. We note with concern reports that numerous members of the media were attacked during the course of the election, and we urge the government, security forces, political actors, and all citizens to respect the media’s critical role by refraining from any damaging acts against them and ensuring accountability for such acts when they do occur. We also congratulate the Nigerian people, especially the large number of youths who are relatively new to the political process, for demonstrating their strong commitment to democracy.” 
There’s been so much criticism directed at VAR since its introduction into the Premier League in 2019, and it had one of its most controversial days yet on February 11, 2023. The technology was at the centre of attention during Chelsea’s visit to West Ham, Arsenal’s clash with Brentford, and Crystal Palace’s draw with Brighton. Daily Mail reported that the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) chief Webb has summoned all officials to Stockley Park for an emergency summit after Arsenal, Brighton and Chelsea were denied crucial decisions. VAR official Lee Mason reportedly forgot to draw the lines that would have deemed Christian Norgaard offside before he set up Ivan Toney’s equalizer as the Gunners dropped two crucial points in their title race during the 1-1 draw with Brentford. 
Brighton’s Pervis Estupinan had his goal ruled out through another error when John Brooks drew the offside line from the wrong defender. An apparent handball by Tomas Soucek was also not given for Chelsea in the dying minutes against West Ham, a decision that left former referee Peter Walton stunned. The report claims that Webb, who was recently appointed chief of the PGMOL, may sack some officials involved in the decision after ordering an urgent review with all options on the table. The meeting has been deemed compulsory by Webb as every referee, assistant referee, and VAR official is expected to attend after Webb was forced to apologize to both Arsenal and Brighton for Saturday’s blunders.