Graeme Souness has claimed that Arsenal defender David Luiz could’ve been sent off after only five minutes.
The Gunners edged out Sheffield United with a 2-1 win at the Emirates Stadium today.
But the result might’ve been very different for Arsenal had they lost their centre-back with 85 minutes left to play.
Sky Sports footage shows that Luiz tugged back Oli Burke’s shirt as he raced through on goal, with Bernd Leno coming way off his line to clear the danger.
But a speed demon like Burke – who has been compared to Gareth Bale in the past – might have got there before the Arsenal keeper, if not for the pull on his jersey.
And Souness has told Sky Sports that it should’ve been a red card.
He said: “It’s a sending-off. He’s pulled his shirt. Now the question is how much is he taking the pace off Oli Burke getting the ball. If he doesn’t pull his shirt he’s at least a metre further on. He may have got there in enough time to tuck it around Leno and tuck it into an empty net.”
Luiz has done so much good in the past three or four months to transform his perception among Arsenal fans and pundits alike.
He was nothing short of a disaster after football resumed in June, but he cleaned up his game and began to stamp out the errors.
But this was a throwback to the Luiz early on during Project Restart, not the Luiz that helped Mikel Arteta’s side to win the FA Cup, and Souness is spot-on in saying that he could’ve easily been dismissed.
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