Jamie Carragher compares Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to Sir Alex Ferguson after Sunderland outburst

Jamie Carragher says Mikel Arteta has become the Premier League’s modern equivalent of Sir Alex Ferguson after the Arsenal manager publicly criticised refereeing decisions following his side’s win at Sunderland.

Arsenal secured a 2-0 victory at the Stadium of Light, but Arteta remained angered by a penalty awarded to Sunderland while the game was still goalless.

Referee Stuart Attwell pointed to the spot after Ezri Konsa was penalised for grappling with Dan Ballard during a corner. The decision was reviewed by VAR and upheld, although the resulting penalty was saved.

Arteta described the decision as “unacceptable” after the match and returned to the incident several times during his media duties.

Carragher believes the Arsenal manager’s outspoken reaction reflected the way Ferguson regularly exerted public pressure on officials during his highly successful spell in charge of Manchester United.

“This was Mikel Arteta becoming the Sir Alex Ferguson of the Premier League right now,” Carragher said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

“He’s the don at the moment; he’s the Premier League champion.”

The former Liverpool defender said Arteta’s long tenure at Arsenal had given him the authority and confidence to challenge decisions publicly.

“He’s been in his role for six or seven years, and he feels he’s in a position of power to say, ‘Yeah, it wasn’t a penalty’. And I don’t think it was a penalty,” Carragher added.

He also suggested Arteta had been determined to keep the decision at the centre of the post-match discussion and send a warning about similar incidents involving Arsenal.

“He was determined to get the narrative out that this won’t happen again to his club,” Carragher said.

“That’s a manager – we’ve seen it with Sir Alex Ferguson, we’ve seen it with Jose Mourinho.”

Carragher questioned how long it would be before Arsenal were awarded a penalty in a comparable situation, given the level of attention Arteta had drawn to the incident.

The dispute is also expected to be taken beyond the media. Reports indicate that Arsenal plan to raise the matter formally with Pro Ref, the organisation responsible for refereeing in English football.

The incident followed a difficult weekend for officials, with Pro Ref also admitting an error during the Manchester derby.

The organisation confirmed that Enzo Fernandez had been offside in the build-up to Erling Haaland’s decisive goal. The VAR officials involved in that decision were subsequently stood down for the next Premier League round.