Charles Watts was left baffled by the officiating in the Arsenal defeat this weekend as the linesman flagged for offside after a throw-in.

What's the latest on the referees and Arsenal?

It was a dismal Sunday for the Gunners as they fell to defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion, leaving their Premier League title ambitions in tatters.

They'd already seen Manchester City beat Everton only hours before kick-off but put the nail in their own coffin as they conceded three goals at the Emirates.

Indeed, after a tight first half, Arsenal ran out of steam in the latter stages of the game as goals from Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav, and Pervis Estupinan saw the Seagulls win 3-0.

It certainly was a day to forget but one bizarre piece of officiating may well live in the memory for all the wrong reasons.

Watts noted the incident on Twitter, writing: "Linesman just put his flag up to signal offside from a throw-in. My word.

"He quickly put it down again and apologised."

Did VAR get things wrong against Arsenal?

This was, of course, an obvious mistake as you can't be offside from a throw-in. Fortunately, the official put his flag down swiftly enough and play was allowed to go on with Arsenal in a promising position – though it ultimately lead to nothing.

Referee Andy Madley and VAR assistant Peter Bankes were also at the centre of attention throughout the encounter.

For instance, they failed to give Gabriel Martinelli a red card for a terrible foul on Kaoru Mitoma which left journalist Sam Pilger furious as he said: "More inexplicable and spineless decisions from referees and VAR."

While there were some doubts over Brighton's first goal as it could be argued that Jakub Kiwior was possibly fouled in the build-up to Enciso's finish.

Journalist Matthew Key also took to Twitter to question the overall level of officiating, writing:

"You will struggle to find a worse half of officiating from Andy Madley and co. Bizarre decisions given/not given throughout for both teams. Really affected how both sides have played. Topped off by a lino giving offside from a throw-in. Not good enough at this level."

In the end, though, as much as some of they key decisions were questionable, Arsenal only have themselves to blame as they failed to really show up for this Premier League match.

And with that, it feels as though they have finally bowed out of the title race.