The Premier League is back, and it’s back with a bang. After two weeks off for the international break, domestic top-flight football returned in England, and it did not disappoint.
From red cards to disallowed goals, shocks to VAR checks, it had a bit of everything across nine games (with Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest to play on Monday). Arsenal were one of the unwanted teams to miss out on the fun.
Whilst Manchester City had Stockley Park to thank for their late winner at Wolves and Liverpool benefited at home to Chelsea, Mikel Arteta’s side were punished through technology. Not only was William Saliba sent off, David Raya would later concede a penalty to put the game past recovery.
For the third time already in eight league games it was the Gunners shooting themselves in the foot, as Declan Rice put it. This time, instead of lacking discipline and perhaps falling slightly the wrong side of luck with yellow cards brandished for delaying the start of play, there were less complaints to be had.
Arteta himself put up little fight. Rice bemoaned the unnecessary pressure Arsenal were putting on Arsenal, rather than being too defiant and hitting back at officials. Saliba hasn’t said a peep in the aftermath.
There was lots to dive into at the Vitality Stadium. Here, football.london has the Premier League’s given reasoning for everything that impacted Arsenal on a night to forget.
