Arsenal against Crystal Palace was an incredibly entertaining game, and while the Gunners scored an equaliser with the final kick of the game, the main talking point after the match was a controversial refereeing decision.
Indeed, James McArthur wildly swung his leg at a dropping ball, but unfortunately, Bukayo Saka got in the way while he was making a clearance and the Irishman ended up volleying Saka’s standing leg.
Luckily, Saka wasn’t seriously injured by this incident, but if his leg was fully planted he easily could have broken a bone.
At the time, there wasn’t too much protest from the Arsenal players on the pitch, but on social media, a debate was waging about the foul and the subsequent decision to book McCarthy.
After the match, Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang logged onto Twitter where he was able to see the incident again, and it’s fair to say he wasn’t best pleased.
Aubameyang’s 13-word tweet is in French, but it roughly translates to ‘How is that not a red card? I hadn’t seen it like that from the field.’ As you can see, the Gabonese forward didn’t agree with the referee’s on-field decision.
To be fair, it does look bad, especially in slow motion from that angle, but was it a red card?
McCarthy didn’t time his volley well, and he did endanger Saka by following through after the ball had gone, but there was no malice or intent here and it would have been incredibly harsh to send him off.
Aubameyang may not be happy with Mike Dean’s decision to book the midfielder, but in our view, in the heat of the moment, the official has made the right call.
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