BAD news for all the conspiracy theorists out there.
Lee Harvey Oswald did kill JFK.
The moon landings were not faked.
And Arsenal’s late ‘winner’ against Aston Villa on Saturday was rightly chalked off.
More than 48 hours after it was made abundantly clear to anyone with a working set of eyes that Kai Havertz’s forearm had diverted Mikel Merino’s bouncing strike past Emi Martinez, there were still Arsenal fans swearing that black was white.
That’s what happens when you live in an echo chamber — your critical faculties go missing.
Rather than questioning how the Gunners threw away a two-goal lead in the space of eight minutes, it had to be about bias, cheating, robbery.
To be fair, without VAR, Arsenal might now be top of the table, rather than six points adrift of Liverpool, who also have a game in hand.
Saturday was the third time this season that the Gunners have had a ‘winning goal’ disallowed after the intervention of Stockley Park.
Yet Havertz was clearly offside when he netted against Chelsea.Gabriel Martinelli went too early before supplying Bukayo Saka in the last few minutes at Fulham.
And on Saturday, the verdict from the video booth was equally clear-cut. Not for everyone, though. The ball “hit his abdomen”. It was “nowhere near his arm”. And best of all, “What else could he do?”
Some, it would seem, have still not recognised that ANY attacking handball that leads directly to the ball going into the net means it is automatically wiped out.
Arsenal supporters are not alone in concocting a story that fits their ‘Us against the world’ narrative.
Indeed, you get the same moans from an awful lot of fans of an awful lot of clubs. Last year, in particular, it was Nottingham Forest.
The Gunners, also, have been on the wrong end of some contentious calls over the past two campaigns.
There were a myriad of reasons to rule out Newcastle’s winner at St James’ Park last term, while Bruno Guimaraes was more than lucky to stay on the pitch.
The second yellow cards for Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard kicking the ball away against Brighton and Manchester City respectively have not been universally followed by all refs.
And the Brighton penalty award at the Amex earlier this month was odd.
But, equally, Havertz should have been dismissed in that tempestuous Tyneside clash, Martin Odegaard’s handball in his own box at Liverpool last term was beyond blatant, while Arsenal’s equaliser against Tottenham last week came from a corner that clearly should have been a goal-kick.
Seeking to pin the blame on outside factors, rather than the real ones, is creating an excuse culture.
Interestingly, Mikel Arteta chose not to go down the rabbit hole.
Instead, the Arsenal manager criticised his side’s defending and made clear to the Emirates board that they have to bring in some proper recruits now if they want to keep the season alive.
Realistically, Arsenal’s best chance of silverware is by doing what Jurgen Klopp did in 2019 — lifting the Champions League.
Arsenal can change three of their European squad for the knockout phase, including stars who have already played for another side in the competition — like Sporting striker Viktor Gyokeres, Jonathan David of Lille or Juventus ace Dusan Vlahovic.
They might also want to get a proper centre-back in to cover for William Saliba as Riccardo Calafiori looks to be made of tissue paper.
Sometimes you have to speculate to accumulate. This is one of those times for Arsenal. And a time for the supporters to stop trying to see things that simply are not there.
By the way, 9/11 was not an inside job. And as for Roswell and Area 51 . . .