Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has strongly criticised the decision to award Sunderland a penalty in his side’s 2-0 victory on Saturday, calling it “unacceptable.” Early into the second-half with the scores tied at 0-0, Sunderland were awarded a penalty by referee John Brooks after he decided that Dan Ballard had been fouled by Arsenal’s Ezri Konsa. The two centre-backs were grappling in the penalty area, and the England international was adjudged to have pulled the Northern Ireland international to the ground after a long throw-in.According to The Premier League Match Centre, the coming together was a “holding offence”, with Brooks saying: “He (Konsa) is all over him at the near post and is facing the wrong way.”The Video Assistant Referee confirmed the on-field decision, and the penalty stood, with Enzo Le Fee’s effort being saved by David Raya.Despite the penalty save and his side’s victory, their ninth consecutive win in all competitions, Arteta voiced his displeasure with the decision, telling TNT Sports after the game: “(We won but) it could have been something very different. I am so upset.“(This) is unacceptable. This (decision) can change the course of a season, the championship, and it is not acceptable. I (have) seen it ten times to make sure, and it’s not possible at this level that it can be a penalty. It just cannot happen. “In the view of anybody who has played football. I’ve been in football for almost 27 years, 28 years. It is not a penalty in any case, in any game, in any context, in any league. I am so pleased in one sense (with his team) and so worried in another.” Arteta heaped praise on his team, particularly Raya and goalscorer Bruno Guimaraes, and said that he would go and speak to Brooks. The Spanish coach continued this point in his post-match press conference, telling reporters: “I watched it 20 times, and I cannot find a way to understand how we even think to give a penalty in that situation. The VAR has to intervene. “I’m sad that we have to discuss in such a beautiful game something at this level that has the gravity of that, because that changes the course of the season. It can cost you the championship, and at this level, with all the work that we put in, this cannot happen.“How can this be a penalty? I don’t know. I cannot find an explanation, honestly. That’s why I’m going to try to find an explanation now. I want to talk about the game. How good we were, how good Sunderland was, and the level of the league, and how beautiful this is. We should never be talking about this.”