Manager Arsene Wenger felt a series of “strange decisions” had proved vital in Arsenal’s 3-2 defeat at Swansea, particularly referee Michael Oliver’s decision to award a penalty he described as “a complete imagination.

The penalty in question came in the 16th minute of an absorbing Liberty Stadium encounter after Nathan Dyer went down under Aaron Ramsey’s challenge, although replays suggested that it was the Swansea winger who had made contact with the Arsenal midfielder and not the other way around.

Scott Sinclair made the most of the opportunity to maintain his 100% record from the spot and score his fourth penalty of the season to level the scores at 1-1, Robin van Persie’s 22nd goal of the season having fired the Gunners into a fifth-minute lead.

Dyer went on to put Swansea ahead, but Arsenal looked set to secure at least a point when Theo Walcott dinked over Michel Vorm with 21 minutes to go, only for a lack of concentration to allow Danny Graham to nip in behind Laurent Koscielny and fire the winner across Wojciech Szczesny less than a minute later.

And while Wenger acknowledged that defensive errors had proved costly, with Per Mertesacker and Koscielny never looking assured, he was far from happy with Oliver’s failure to spot what he felt was a clear dive by Dyer.

The Frenchman said: “The game was difficult as Swansea played well, but the game was decided by some strange decisions, the first by the referee was the penalty which was a complete imagination and it was a good dive by the player.

 

Sunday, 15 January 2012

Barclays Premier League

Newcastle 1-0 QPR

Swansea 3-2 Arsenal

Saturday, 14 January 2012

Barclays Premier League

Aston Villa 1-1 Everton

Blackburn 3-1 Fulham

Chelsea 1-0 Sunderland

Liverpool 0-0 Stoke

Man Utd 3-0 Bolton

Tottenham 1-1 Wolverhampton

West Brom 1-2 Norwich