The Premier League have been told that the referee made a mistake by showing William Saliba a red card in the first half of Arsenal’s surprise 2-0 defeat against Bournemouth.
The Arsenal defender was shown a straight red card for the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity on the half-hour mark of that match at the Vitality Stadium. He was originally cautioned for his foul on striker Evanilson but, after a VAR check, it was upgraded to an immediate dismissal.
With the score level at the time, Mikel Arteta’s 10 men fell to a 2-0 defeat. The result means that they missed out on their chance to climb to the top of the table – ahead of Liverpool’s and Manchester City’s games this weekend.
The decision to dismiss Saliba has stirred up a lot of debate among pundits and supporters, too. Ex-striker-turned-pundit Dean Ashton has now outlined why the wrong decision was reached.
“I just can’t see how this can be a red card,” he told Sky Sports News. “If you’re looking at the laws of the game, distance between the offence and the goal… 45 yards, likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball – it’s a bouncing ball, he’s not got control of it, he’s going to have to get control of it, he’s 45 yards from goal.
“To make that decision, I think you’ve never been in that position because you can’t understand, first of all, you’ve got to gain control of that ball, you’re 45 yards away from goal. Yes, it’s a slight tug, but William Saliba is still going to be there as you then go and control it, 45 yards from goal.”
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Ashton continued: “So you’ve got to get away from him, fully, control the ball, take it towards goal… We’re talking probably another 25 yards of play, so you’re making lots of assumptions that as a striker you’re going to get control of it calmly, get away from your defender, of which you have no idea of the sprint speed of both of those players.
“Ben White has got the opportunity, being 45 yards from goal, to cover that ground because he’s not battling with anyone, he’s purely sprinting in a straight line. So I can’t see how you can assume Evanilson is going to get a hold of that calmly, take it towards goal. He might but you can’t assume that, that’s the hardest thing to do.”
Unless Arsenal make a challenge over that red card to the FA – and are successful with it – it means that Saliba will miss the mouth-watering Premier League showdown against Liverpool next up.
