Mikel Arteta has lamented the red card shown to William Saliba as Arsenal slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday evening.
Arsenal arrived on the south coast unbeaten, but after a brilliant opening, they were given an uphill task as William Saliba was sent off in the 30th minute for hauling down Evanilson as he ran at goal.
The foul occurred just outside the Arsenal box, with Saliba caught out by a terrible pass from Leandro Trossard, and the French defender was shown a yellow card by referee Robert Jones. However, following VAR review, the decision was upgraded to a red card, leaving Arsenal with an hour to go down a man.
The game was on at that point, with Bournemouth taking control of the game. In the 70th minute, following a costly miss from Gabriel Martinelli, Ryan Christie opened the scoring, while Justin Kluivert made it 2-0 from the penalty spot nine minutes later.
Mikel Arteta reacts to William Saliba’s red card
This is the third time in the space of six Premier League games Arsenal had to deal with a red cardwithout any team in the English top flight getting more than the Gunners. That said, this one did feel more deserved than the previous two.
However, the decision still left Arteta fuming, although he did his best to control his emotions after the game.
“Obviously, we are very disappointed with the result and gutted that we have to play another game in this context. With 10 men for 60, 65 minutes at this level, it’s impossible,” Arteta told reporters (via Sky Sports).
On the decision-making of the referees, Arteta continued: “It was a decision made on the field of play. This decision was reversed. Now I don’t think the decision will change again. So, decision made.
“Willy has never done anything like this, but he doesn’t do it on purpose. It happens. We have to accept it, move on and have the pain we feel for Tuesday (against Shakhtar Donestsk).
