Ian Wright and Alan Shearer disagreed on Premier League Productions about David Luiz’s sending-off during Arsenal’s defeat at Wolves on Tuesday night.
The Premier League’s all-time top marksman felt that the Arsenal defender was ‘very sloppy’ prior to giving the penalty away and he deserved to get sent off.
At the time, Arsenal were dominating the match, winning 1-0, before the Luiz-Willian Jose incident changed the complexation of the match.
But Highbury legend Wright disagreed with Shearer’s claims and thought he was ‘very harsh’ to dig the Arsenal player out.
“I think it’s very sloppy and poor from David Luiz,” said Shearer. “He gets drawn into making the challenge near the halfway line. He doesn’t really need to. Then he’s out of position in behind and it’s the correct decision.
“It’s a penalty and a red card because it’s not a genuine attempt to make a tackle. The forward is clear through on goal. Denying a goalscoring opportunity.”
Wright responded: “I think that’s a bit harsh. You look at the way he’s challenged, he’s gone across him at the back and that can happen. The feet can get clipped. The mistake would have been by the halfway line and the challenge he made there.
“People can say he might have done it on purpose running in the back of him then clip his leg and he might have got away with it. But I think it’s pretty harsh to dig him out, personally. The mistake was on the halfway line. That’s where he got himself into a muddle.”
That’s the third time that Luiz has been sent off in his Arsenal career and it could be a case of his reputation going against him.
It was yet another controversial moment in the Premier League to add to the catalogue of errors made by officials in the game.
By the letter of the law, it seems as though the correct call was made, which clearly shows that there is a problem with the ruling.
But sections of Arsenal fans have also questioned how much contact there actually was between the two.
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