Arsenal’s four-game winning streak came to an end against Leicester City today. The Gunners took the lead through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the first half and Jamie Vardy levelled the score six minutes before the 90.
The biggest talking point from the game was Eddie Nketiah’s red card, just 100 seconds after he came on. The young striker was sent off after a lengthy VAR check due to high tackle on James Justin.
The tackle, as unintentional as it was, was a dangerous one and Nketiah was rightly shown the red card. However Mikel Arteta wasn’t too pleased with the decision as he claimed that a Leicester player should’ve been off as well before half-time.
Arteta told Sky Sports: “He (Nketiah) doesn’t see the player. You have to know that he is a young kid, it can be a red card but then Leicester has to play with 10 men after 42 minutes. One challenge between the 40th and the 45th minute has to be a red card as well.”
“If you review, it has to be equal for everyone. If Eddie’s is a red card so is the other,” Arteta said in his post match press conference. (Football London, 23:04)
The five minute window Arteta mentioned saw two challenges from Leicester players that might have needed a second glance.
Jonny Evans caught Alexandre Lacazette near the half way line which probably was worthy of a yellow card, but it could never have been a sending off.
The second challenge, one that Arteta probably has on his mind, is Jamie Vardy’s on Shkodran Mustafi. The Englishman’s foot seemed to strike the Arsenal defender on his face but no action was taken by the officials.
Both Vardy and Mustafi were off balance and were falling over. The Leicester striker’s follow through hit the German’s face and it was completely accidental.
Sending Vardy off for that would have been extremely harsh. The referee got that decision right and Arteta’s complaints might just be an emotional reaction right after the game.
Arsenal now have to focus on the North London derby at the weekend. A win at Tottenham is an absolute necessity if they want to give themselves any chance of making it into the top five.
The Gunners need to kill off their games quicker. This isn’t the first time Arsenal have let a game slip in the final moments which cannot happen against Spurs this weekend.
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