SEAN Dyche admitted he couldn’t believe Arsenal’s dramatic late penalty at the Emirates hadn’t been flagged for offside.

Burnley looked to have earned a point in north London with a spot kick of their own, converted by Andre Gray in the 93rd minute.

But Jon Moss handed Arsenal a 98th minute lifeline when he penalised Ben Mee for a high foot on Laurent Koscielny, despite the defender being offside when Alexis Sanchez sent the ball into the box.

Dyche described Koscielny’s offside intervention - it was the same player who scored from an offside position in the 96th minute at Turf Moor in October - as a ‘cruel twist of fate’.

"It's bizarre to think there's been two last-minute decisions against the same side, home and away, has cost us two points,” said the Clarets chief.

"It's an unfortunate twist of fate.

“We get back in it, and then, you can't believe the decision.

"The mad thing about it now, is they have to wait until something happens, before they get the flag up.

"Before, they'd just put the flag up because he's offside. So he has to wait, then the ref gives a decision, and then the linesman has to be brave because he's under pressure.

"He's thinking 'god, he's given a penalty, what do I do now?'

"Not literally, but if he just put his flag up, he's offside, simple as that.

"So that's really disappointing.

"What do you do? It's one of those things, you can only hope over a season you get a decision back.”

Dyche added: "You don't want to cry it in, we just hope for balance over the season.

“When you play these top sides, you need to play well, to stop them playing well, a bit of the rub of the green, and the officials to do well.

“Overall, they did well, but I don't think at this level you can get that one wrong, because it's so clear. We're not talking about an inch, it's two-thirds of a body's width. That has to be given.

"Ben has to make the challenge, because the lad, who's offside, is a body ahead of him, and he has to work extra hard to try and get around him, to make the challenge.

"If he was level, he wouldn't have had to make the challenge, he would have dealt with the ball, or it would have gone out.

"Earlier in the game, Giroud goes for an overhead kick, and I said to the fourth official, 'surely that's dangerous play?', but he said he wasn't close enough to it.

"Ben is clearly going for the ball, he only has eyes for it, the lad is stooping to head it...it's an honest challenge. But he's offside and the linesman has to give that.”

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola demanded a meeting with referees’ chief Mike Riley after a decision went against his side yesterday, but Dyche refused to follow the same route as the Catalan.

"I don't think there's any point. However many people are watching it out there saw it,” Dyche said when asked if he’s demand a meeting with Riley.

"What are you going to prove? It's just a bad moment. It's unfortunate, because it cost us a point, and that's two against Arsenal, but generally the officials are good, I like what they do, because it's very tough.

"This was just a moment in time, when the linesman doesn't make a decision which is quite obvious, at this level.”

Despite the cruel ending Dyche was pleased with his side’s performance at the Emirates.

"I thought we came with the right mentality to perform against a very good side, and I thought we worked diligently to soften their threat - I can't say stop it, because they have threats from all over the pitch,” he said.

"But we looked effective at times on the counter, which you have to at places like this, so we're pleased with all of that, and then they get the lad sent off - I haven't seen that one, I don't know if it's a sending off or not - but we had to work hard to get something, because they're packing numbers behind and breaking themselves, which they do effectively.”

Dyche added it was too early to assess the seriousness of Dean Marney’s knee injury after the midfielder was stretchered off in the second half.