Thomas Frank was livid with the decision that allowed Arsenal matchwinner Kai Havertz to escape a red card in Brentford’s defeat at the Emirates Stadium.
The Bees looked to be on course to secure a vital point in their battle to beat the drop when Yoane Wissa capitalised on an Aaron Ramsdale error and cancelled out Declan Rice’s opener.
Havertz, however, rescued his side with a late header which sent the Gunners, temporarily at least, top the table ahead of Sunday’s heavyweight clash between Liverpool and Manchester City.
The Brentford boss felt Havertz was lucky to be on the pitch for the decisive moment having avoided a second yellow card for what appeared a clear dive after he fell under the challenge of Nathan Collins looking for a second half penalty.
‘I’m so proud of the team and the players,’ said Frank. ‘We’ve come here to Arsenal who have scored 100 goals in I don’t know how many games and we limited them. It was almost a defensive masterclass.
‘The performance was spot on. Even more impressive if you take into account Arsenal’s form, our form, our injury situation. I actually don’t think Havertz should be on the pitch when he scored. It was a clear dive. Maybe it is difficult for the ref but the linesman should have seen it.
‘We are in that spell where we need to fight so hard for things. You need things to go your way, especially things you can’t control like refereeing decisions.
‘I’m a big believer that you should celebrate your wins and goals. They clearly respect us and they know we are very good and it meant a lot to them.
‘The performance we take out of this is very good. We will take all of the positives and keep on fighting. I told them it was a great performance and that I’m so proud of them. If you get hit in the face then stand up and keep going.’
Havertz, meanwhile, has now scored in four successive games for Arsenal, a feat he never managed to achieve during his Chelsea career and the Germany international was buzzing to have played such a significant part in a huge win.
he said: ‘Massive win for us. These points were so important for us and you could see that in the second half. We didn’t play our best in the first half but it’s even better to win it this way.
‘It’s always nice to have three points in the bag. We talked a lot about this in the dressing room. We want to focus on ourselves because we cannot change what the other teams are doing. We go into the other competition in the week and hopefully it’s a good night for us.
‘It wasn’t nice especially after conceding so close to the whistle. We spoke to each other and wanted to turn it around. Mistakes are part o f the game. I have made mistakes that lead to goals. We showed a good mentality from the first second of the second half.’
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