Arsenal held firm at Elland Road this evening to claim a 0-0 draw at Leeds United – but Nicolas Pepe finds himself in trouble.
The Gunners travelled to West Yorkshire seeking a response following their 3-0 defeat against Aston Villa last time out, but it was another goalless display for Mikel Arteta’s men.
Still, they managed to stay strong and keep a clean sheet, with Bernd Leno making a host of saves whilst Rodrigo, Patrick Bamford and Raphinha all hit the woodwork.
Some will still be worried about the lack of goals, but Arteta’s hopes of finding the back of the net were dented by Pepe picking up a red card early into the second half.
Pepe was being wound up by Leeds ace Ezgjan Alioski, and the Ivorian fell for the bait as he retaliated by headbutting Alioski, receiving a red card thanks to VAR.
That left Arsenal down to 10 men for more than 40 minutes, and he’s truly lucky that his teammates managed to dig in and pick up a point and a clean sheet without him.
Arteta unsurprisingly isn’t happy, and neither was Ian Wright as he appeared to want to bang his head against a wall having seen Pepe’s retaliation.
Gary Lineker called Pepe ‘idiotic’ for his headbutt, whilst ex-Arsenal man Perry Groves suggested that the winger is ‘absolutely brainless’ in rather strong criticism.
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