West Bromwich Ablion manager Steve Clarke has claimed that several penalty decisions went against his side during their 2-0 defeat to Arsenal this afternoon.
Santi Cazorla appeared to buy a penalty under the challenge of Steven Reid in the first period, while the Baggies complained that there was a foul on their own player prior to the award of the second spot-kick.
Clarke also feels that West Brom should have had a penalty at the other end and believes that referee Mike Jones could have been influenced by the vocal home support.
"I think we were hard done by. There was clear daylight between Steven Reid and Santi Cazorla for the first penalty," he said.
"There was a penalty for us for a Per Mertesacker handball but he gave a free kick the other way. It was the easy way out when you come to a big stadium and the crowd are on your back.
"I've got no complaints with the second penalty but there was a foul in the build-up. Up until the [first] penalty I thought we had good control defensively but we didn't do enough offensively."
Jones also gave a debatable penalty in Newcastle's 3-0 victory over Wigan Athletic on Monday.
Joe Fish
