Ray Parlour says he was ‘amazed’ that Jordan Ayew wasn’t sent off himself during Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Monday night at Selhurst Park.
The Arsenal legend was making reference to Takehiro Tomiyasu being shown a second yellow card for seemingly pulling back on Jordan Ayew.
But replays showed that there was hardly any contact, yet when Ayew himself, already on a yellow card, hauled down Bukayo Saka in the second half, nothing was given and Parlour thinks it was ‘worse’ than the Tomiyasu situation, as he told Premier League Productions (21/08/23 at 10:15 pm).
David Coote was the on-field referee and it’s fair to say that he didn’t have the best of games.
Whilst he was correct to book Tomiyasu for time-wasting, there were other incidents that just didn’t make sense, including not booking Kai Havertz for pulling Ayew’s shirt, yet his teammates was shown a second yellow for a much lesser incident.
Either way, it left Highbury hero Parlour scratching his head, as he issued the following reaction.
“That’s Ayew’s first yellow card on Havertz, he doesn’t have many complaints there, that’s in the first half,” said Parlour.
“But this is the incident when he is on a yellow card. Saka rolls him, does really well there, gets away from and then brings him down.
“Again, is that worse than Tomiyasu on Ayew? I would say that’s probably worse. He just brings him down. That’s what I am amazed with and that situation.”
The win is the most important
That’s three points and a first clean sheet of the season for Arsenal, as they are only one of three teams to have made a 100% start to the new Premier League campaign.
Those final 25 minutes, from Arsenal’s perspective, were impressive because, under the lights at Selhurst Park and down to ten men, they showcased their worth and fought to hang on.
It doesn’t help that, after Jurrien Timber’s injury, Mikel Arteta will have to make another change to his backline for the clash against Fulham at the weekend, but the positive is that Alex Zinchenko is back.
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