Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season, losing 2-0 to AFC Bournemouth after the international break on Saturday at the Vitality Stadium.
William Saliba picked up a red card in the first half, and it became a difficult task for the Gunners to grind out a result with ten men on the pitch.
Saliba was forced to make a challenge on Bournemouth striker Evanilson after an errant pass from Leandro Trossard. Initially, the Frenchman was shown a yellow card, but after checking on the side pitch monitor, the referee decided to pull out the red card from his pocket.
Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert scored in the second half as the Cherries picked up their first win against the Gunners since January 2018.
Was the decision to send Saliba off was correct?
Dean Ashton was left stunned by the red card decision. He thinks that the incident happened some 45 yards away from the goal, and while Saliba did make a challenge, the defender was not obstructing a clear goal-scoring opportunity.
“I just can’t see how this can be a red card,” said Ashton on Sky Sports.
“The distance between the offence and the goal is 45 yards. Likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball.”
Jamie Redknapp thinks it was the right decision
Redknapp feels that Saliba, one of the fastest defenders in the Premier League, could have done better. Saliba panicked, and it was definitely a foul.
The Sky Sports pundit does not think that Saliba could have made a recovery and he was denying a scoring opportunity.
Redknapp said: “Your natural inclination is to panic, grab him and he’s thinking ‘what have I done?’ Then Gabriel went to the referee and there’s a few guilty signs.
“It’s definitely a foul. Ben White you could argue, can he get back in time, but my guess is no. It was definitely denying a goalscoring opportunity.”
Mikel Arteta will be worried that the Gunners have already picked up too many red cards this season, and that needs to stop.
The Gunners are expected to challenge for the Premier League title this season alongside Manchester City, but Chris Sutton is now slightly concerned about whether the squad has enough quality to cope in the absence of Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.
