Arsenal felt like Nottingham Forest had escaped with a point after Ola Aina handled the ball inside the penalty area – and the Nigeria international couldn’t resist the wind-up on social media
Ola Aina avoids an obvious handball against Arsenal (Image: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Nottingham Forest defender Ola Aina has angered Arsenal fans by writing and then deleting a cheeky social media post about appearing to play handball. VAR was once again in the news as Forest held the Premier League leaders to a goalless draw at the City Ground on Saturday night.
Forest goalkeeper Mats Sells made a superb save to deny Bukayo Saka’s header, but Arsenal were unable to find the back of the net and Mikel Merino missed a golden opportunity. The Gunners’ incisive attack frustrated Mikel Arteta, but he was also frustrated that the home side survived a penalty scream.
Aina appeared to have handled the ball inside the box in the closing stages, with Arteta saying after the game: “There was no clear penalty given inside the box.”
Regarding the decision against X, Premier League Match Center explained: “The referee’s no-penalty decision against Arsenal was checked and confirmed by VAR. The ball was deemed to have initially left Aina’s shoulder and his arm was also in a natural position.”
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Aina knew she had gotten away with it, judging by her Instagram post on Sunday. The Nigeria international shared a screenshot of the moment the ball touched his arm on his Instagram Stories along with a photo of WWE wrestler Eddie Guerrero and the song “Viva La Raza.” Guerrero was known as a con artist in the professional wrestling world, with his catchphrase “Lie, cheat, steal.”
Aina later deleted the post and added a photo of herself warming up for the match and the caption: “Viva la Raza. Just a joke.” The post was intended by some Arsenal fans, but others were furious at the apparent admission of guilt.
Ola Aina shared a screenshot of the incident (Image: )
Wrestler Eddie Guerrero was known for cheating (Image: )
One Arsenal fan wrote in X: “If this had happened to us and Gabriel had tweeted this, the FA would definitely have looked into this and scheduled a rematch as soon as possible.”
Another added: “He knew what he was doing. He was instinctive, but he was trying to keep the ball inbounds.” A third wrote: “He knows the crime he committed.”
Forest manager Sean Dyche disagreed with Arteta, who described the incident as a “clear” penalty. “If these start being given, I think we all have to stay away from it. I think it’s ridiculous. We have to be careful with them,” Dyche told TNT Sports.
Ola Aina later retracted her post (Image: Instagram/@olaaina)
Mikel Arteta thought it was a penalty (Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Getty Images)
“If you’re going to play soccer (as well as handball), you better stop playing soccer. You have to be careful about the rules. You know what to look for? People pretending to be injured. That’s the new diving.”
Expert opinion was divided on the decision, with former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin saying on BBC Radio 5 Live that he thought Aina’s arm “moved towards the ball”, while former Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard said it would have been “naive” to award a penalty.
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