Jamie Carragher has compared Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to Sir Alex Ferguson for the manner in which he criticised referees following the Gunners' 2-0 win over Sunderland.
Despite coming away with three points at the Stadium of Light, Arteta launched into a furious tirade over the decision to award a penalty to Sunderland when it was still goalless.
Arsenal defender Ezri Konsa was penalised for grappling with Dan Ballard in the box during a corner, with referee Stuart Atwell's decision to point to the spot backed up by VAR.
Arteta called the decision "unacceptable" and a source told ESPN that Arsenal planned to raise the issue with Pro Ref, the association in charge of officiating in England.
The Spaniard's fury reminded Carragher of the legendary former Man United manager.
"This was Mikel Arteta becoming the Sir Alex Ferguson of the Premier League right now," he said on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football show.
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"He's the don at the moment; he's the Premier League champion.
"A lot of new managers about ... he's been in his role for six or seven years, and he feels he's in a position of power to say, 'Yeah, it wasn't a penalty.' And I don't think it was a penalty.
"But it'd be interesting to see how long it takes for another referee to give a penalty against Arsenal in a similar situation.
"I thought it was very interesting in the press conference; one of the journalists made a point about, no matter what question you asked him, he kept going back to the penalty, so he was determined to get the narrative out that this won't happen again to his club.
"But that's a manager -- we've seen it with Sir Alex Ferguson, we've seen it with José Mourinho."
It was a difficult weekend for Pro Ref, with the organisation admitting their error to not deem Enzo Fernández offside in the sequence that led to the only goal of the Manchester derby on Sunday.
The VAR from the derby have subsequently been stood down for the upcoming Premier League weekend.
