Konsa penalty: Arsenal to contact Pro Ref as Arteta says call ‘can cost you the championship’

By Jack Shaw · London · Published: 13:25 BST

• Arsenal will contact Pro Ref, the Premier League’s refereeing body, for an explanation of the Konsa penalty awarded against them in Saturday’s win over Sunderland, the BBC reports.
• Referee John Brooks gave the spot-kick on the field for excessive holding by Ezri Konsa on Sunderland captain Dan Ballard, and the Premier League Match Centre confirmed the decision was checked and backed by VAR.
• Mikel Arteta called it “not acceptable at this level” and said he had watched the incident 20 times without understanding it.

The Konsa penalty has become the second refereeing storm of the Premier League weekend, and this time it is the champions doing the complaining. Arsenal, the BBC understands, will hold talks with Pro Ref for an explanation of why John Brooks pointed to the spot against Ezri Konsa on Saturday — a decision Arteta says could ultimately decide where the title goes.

Why the Konsa penalty is being challenged

The incident came from a physical exchange between Konsa and Ballard inside the Arsenal box, with the Arsenal defender judged to have held the Sunderland captain excessively. Brooks gave it live and the video assistant referee did not overturn it. “The referee’s call of penalty to Sunderland for a holding offence by Konsa on Ballard was checked and confirmed by VAR,” the Premier League Match Centre said. Arsenal still won the game, which is precisely why the club’s response is notable — this is not a complaint driven by dropped points. It is understood Arsenal simply want clarity on how Brooks reached his decision, and are keen to avoid major refereeing calls shaping results.

It lands a day after Pro Ref admitted an error of judgement over Erling Haaland‘s winner in the Manchester derby — the full timeline of that one is in our report on Pro Ref’s admission over the Haaland derby goal, and the wider weekend picture is tracked across the network at JOE Sport.

The expert angle: this is an escalation, not a moan

Managers grumble about referees every week. Champions formally going to the governing body after a win is a different thing entirely. Arteta was explicit about the stakes: “I watched it 20 times and I cannot find a way to understand how they think to give a penalty in that situation, or the way the VAR has to intervene… that changes the course of the season and it can cost you the championship.”

The substance of the complaint is not really the on-field call — it is the VAR threshold. Brooks made a judgement in real time on a wrestling match between two big defenders; those are always arguable. What Arsenal are questioning is why a decision that two Match of the Day pundits described as plainly wrong survived a review. Ashley Williams was blunt: “I think he’s got it completely wrong. It’s almost like a perfect hip toss in judo. In no way is it a penalty.” Thomas Frank agreed, both arguing Arsenal should in fact have had a free-kick the other way.

That is the awkward pattern of the weekend. In Manchester, Pro Ref conceded the derby winner should not have stood. In London, Arsenal are asking why a review looked at the Konsa penalty and left it alone. The common thread is inconsistency in what clears the “clear and obvious” bar, and that is a far harder problem for the Premier League to answer than any single spot-kick.

Wrap-up

Two contested calls, two clubs with a grievance, one weekend. If VAR can wave through a penalty that pundits call a judo throw, what exactly is it there for? Read next: Arsenal close in on a new Mikel Arteta contract.

Follow all the latest: Football live: Premier League 2026/27 news, transfers and updates.