Mikel Arteta has expressed his anger at the denial of a ‘1000 percent penalty’ and insisted Arsenal put in their best European performance in years despite a 1-0 defeat at Inter Milan.

Hakan Çalhanoglu’s penalty in first-half stoppage time made for a thrilling match at Stadio San Siro and handed the Gunners another setback in their Champions League campaign.

Mikel Merino is said to have been in the penalty area for 17 minutes after being involved in an incident at the other end of the pitch in which he was attacked by Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer.

“I don’t understand it (the handball decision),” Arteta said.

“There is no danger at all. You cannot react because the ball is very close. But okay. They decide that is a penalty.”

“But if that is a penalty, then the one on Mikel Merino, hitting him on the head, has to be a 1,000 percent penalty. These are the margins in this match and they are very difficult to accept.”

“At the start of the season we were told it was not a penalty. That was clear. Today it was a different story.”

After a slow start, with Denzel Dumfries hitting the crossbar in the second minute, Arsenal increasingly dominated possession but could not get past Sommer.

The result puts Arsenal twelfth in the Champions League.

Despite losing their third defeat in six games in all competitions, Arteta was defiant ahead of Sunday’s Premier League trip to Chelsea.

“All the big games we’ve played in Europe, this is by far the best we’ve played in recent years,” he said.

“If we play like we played, we have a good chance to beat Chelsea.”