"I'm not sure how you can say it's not a penalty" - Jurgen Klopp on VAR's decision to not give Liverpool a penalty against Arsenal

Jurgen Klopp has questioned the referees' decision not to award Liverpool a penalty in the first half of their Premier League clash against Arsenal on Saturday (23 December).

Gabriel Magalhaes put Arsenal in front in the fourth minute after heading in Martin Odegaard's free kick. 16 minutes later, the Norwegian was in the spotlight once again, but for a different reason.

Mohamed Salah took a neat touch inside the box and wanted to evade Odegaard, but the Gunners skipper handled the ball to deflect it in another direction. Referee Chris Kavanagh did not point to the spot and VAR did not overturn the decision either.

Addressing the incident after the full-time whistle, Klopp told BBC Match of the Day:

"The penalty situation is a weird situation, I don't know if the ref can see it, but you look at it and I'm not sure how you can say it's not a penalty."

In the former Real Madrid midfielder's defense, he seemed to have lost his footing, which, in turn, led the ball to strike his hand. However, it did stop Salah from getting in behind him and into a dangerous attacking position.

The Egyptian superstar nevertheless found the back of the net in the 29th minute with a strong near-post shot to make it 1-1. Nine minutes from time, Arsenal had a penalty shout of their own, with Trent Alexander-Arnold seemingly shoving Kai Havertz inside the box.

However, nothing was given, and the game finished 1-1 at Anfield. The draw means the north London giants go into Christmas top of the table with 40 points from 18 matches, leading the Reds and Aston Villa by a point.

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Arsenal's Mikel Arteta happy to be top of the table after Liverpool draw

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has given his verdict on his team leading the table going into Christmas Day.

After the match against Liverpool on Merseyside, the former Manchester City assistant coach told BBC MOTD:

"I'm happy to be where we are [when asked how he feels being top at Christmas]. Tomorrow we have a beautiful dinner with our families, then back to work."

According to the BBC, this is the first time that the Gunners are top of the tree on consecutive Christmas days since achieving the feat in 1932 and 1933. That, however, doesn't guarantee a Premier League title, and they found it out first-hand last season.

The north London giants, in fact, led the table for a record 248 days before losing the title to Manchester City by five points. They last won the trophy in the 2003-04 season when Arsene Wenger led them to an unbeaten league season.