Soft penalty gave Spurs equaliser – Wenger

Arsene Wenger questioned the decision that led to Tottenham equalising from a penalty in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw in the north London derby.

Referee Mark Clattenburg awarded a penalty after Laurent Koscielny felled Mousa Dembele inside the area, and Harry Kane scored from the spot to cancel out Kevin Wimmer’s first-half own-goal.

But addressing the award of the penalty, Wenger told BT Sport: “Contact is not a penalty. A foul is a penalty.

“For me, it was a very soft penalty. From their side there is only one option – to look for a penalty.”

The equaliser prevented Arsenal from going top of the Premier League and Wenger said his players were not at their best.

“I felt we had some good spells. It was a bit hectic, nervous,” he added. “I don’t question the spirit of the team but overall it lacked fluency, movement. We played a bit too nervously.

“We needed more availability around the ball, and we didn’t play out from the back as well as we can.”

Arsenal winger Theo Walcott, who hit the post in the first half, said: “It was a difficult game. We had good periods in the game, but we didn’t manage to finish our chances.

“These games are about working hard for the team, maybe we will look back on it as a good result.”

On the Spurs penalty, he added: “The referee has made a decision, we can’t change that now.”