I HAD major doubts over William Saliba’s red card and would have stayed with referee Rob Jones’ on-field decision of a caution.
The Arsenal defender fouled Bournemouth striker Evanilson but was it a clear and obvious error for VAR to intervene?
It’s a subjective decision, so I didn’t think VAR Jarred Gillett needed to get involved. For the denial of a goalscoring opportunity, we look at four key criteria.
And I had doubts over three of those.
The distance between the offence and the goal was lengthy, the general direction of play saw the ball coming across Evanilson and not in front of him and also the location and number of defenders was questionable.
The likelihood of him keeping or gaining control of the ball would have probably been in the favour of the Cherries forward because David Raya was back-pedalling towards his own goal.
PGMOL chiefs Howard Webb was spotted on TV listening into the VAR comms and that is normal for him to have access — just like the media broadcasters.
There is no way he would have had any input or communication into the Saliba red card.
The Frenchman’s dismissal means he is now set to miss a crucial match in the title race for the Gunners.
Saliba will serve a one -match ban in the Premier League, ruling him out of next Sunday’s clash with Liverpool.
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He will then be free to return to league action away to Newcastle on November 2.
Fortunately for Mikel Arteta, he remains available for Tuesday’s Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk.
The 23-year-old is also free to face Preston in the Carabao Cup later this month ahead of the trip to St. James’ Park.
Saliba’s red card against Bournemouth is only the second of his career and his first for almost four years.
He was previously dismissed whilst playing for Arsenal’s under-21s in the EFL Trophy back in 2020.
