Ian Wright has slammed James McArthur for his ‘volley’ on the back of Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka’s calf on Monday night, as he told Premier League Productions (18/10/21 9:00 pm).
The Palace midfielder received a yellow card for his kick on the back of Saka’s leg, which Arsenal legend Wright blasted as ‘ridiculous’, as both teams played out an entertaining 2-2 draw.
As the ball was going to be cleared by Saka, McArthur was pretty late when he swung his right foot towards the player, and even though Mike Dean acknowledged that it was a bad challenge, he was only given a yellow.
VAR did have a look at the incident and it seems as though the suggestion was that it as a ‘high-end’ yellow card.
Wright wasn’t having any of it and stated that it’s ‘beyond me’ as to why he wasn’t sent off for his actions.
“How they have not given that for violent conduct is beyond me,” said Wright. “The ball is there why is he still kicking him?
“How have they missed that? How can they miss that?
On it being a high-end yellow card: “Oh, come on man. So, what? Is there low-end red cards then? What’s the difference? It’s a yellow card. It’s ridiculous. Another decision where they have made something up just to let it run on. That’s sending off.
“It doesn’t surprise me (on Saka not coming back on for second half). That was a proper volley he got on the calf.”
Given that Saka had to go off at half-time, well that says it all in regards to how he would have felt when he went back to the dressing room.
The incident happened just before the half-time break, so by the time Saka went back into the dressing room, the pain would have still been raw.
If it was a case of nothing was given for the challenge, then the officials could have been criticised for not seeing the kick.
But it was seen, it was acknowledged and only a yellow card was shown, so Arsenal fans have every right to moan.
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