LONDON – Fulham manager Scott Parker said Arsenal’s late equaliser should not have been allowed as Rob Holding was offside and interfering with play when Eddie Nketiah’s goal in second-half stoppage time earned his side a 1-1 draw.
Fulham lost to a late goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers nine days ago and they were denied again as Nketiah struck in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
“I’ve just seen it back. He (Holding) looks offside to me, he’s standing in an offside position. As a consequence of where my keeper is, he’s two yards away from the goal line and he’s in an offside position – that’s what’s disappointing,” Parker, whose side are 18th in the table, told Sky Sports.
“We defended superbly, we limited them to few chances. The longer the game was going on I felt we had done well but the residing factor is that late decision and the rules on it,” he added.
The result left Fulham six points adrift of safety with five games left, and both Burnley and Brighton & Hove Albion, just above them in the standings, have matches in hand.
“We wanted to win the game, we needed to win today, we need to win next week and the remaining games. We were so close today so it’s been painful,” Parker said.
“As disappointed as I am now and the team are we’ll wake up tomorrow and we will fight again and keep going.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his side deserved more after having two first-half goals ruled out for offside.
“We took risks in the right way, we could have scored three or four, we totally deserved to win the match, but put ourselves in a difficult position,” he said.
Reuters
