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Former Liverpool midfielder, Steven Gerrard, has warned Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to be careful not to concentrate too much on Ola Aina’s handball call from the Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest match that ended in a draw.Manchester City lost 2-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday morning, which allowed Arsenal to take a nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League.However, Arteta’s team could not break through Forest’s defence, and the draw has left the Gunners seven points ahead of City and Villa, who have a game against Everton on Sunday.Arteta was upset after the game because he thought Arsenal should have gotten a ‘clear penalty’.The ball hit Ola Aina’s arm inside Forest’s box, and Arteta believed it was a very clear penalty.“If not, I wouldn’t be here saying it, in my opinion, it’s a very clear penalty,” Arteta told reporters.However, Gerrard believes Arteta should not use the decision as an excuse for why Arsenal did not go nine points clear at the top of the Premier League.Gerrard told TNT Sports that he thinks there was a shout, but he doesn’t believe it was as obvious as Mikel Arteta is saying.“I feel it was not very clear, especially when you consider how things look in real time from the referee’s perspective,” Gerrard said.“I think you need to be careful not to be holding on to things that aren’t really valid because that’s not the real reason they didn’t get the maximum points today.“The reason is that they were really wasteful in the first half, and the keeper made a world-class save. I thought Arsenal played well today; they had control of much of the match and created enough scoring opportunities to win.“But I think if Arsenal’s focus is only on that handball decision, they’re just grasping at straws. As I say, they’ve taken control of most of the game. It was a good performance from Arsenal today, but they didn’t have that final touch to finish things off.“I think it was the Martinelli opportunity, the one where he got the ball on the heel, and he played a quick sidefoot pass into the far corner. In my opinion, nine times out of ten, most players playing at Arsenal’s standard should take that chance, and that should have been a goal.“Then they might have moved on to other plays because Forest would have needed to come out of a low defence and be more daring.“When the game is tied at 0-0, it gives Sean Dyche and his team a chance to stay in the match and take control of the space away from Arsenal.”
