Arsenal go down to 10 men for the THIRD time this season as William Saliba’s risky challenge on Evanilson is upgraded to a red card after lengthy VAR review
- William Saliba brought down Evanilson after a back pass from Leandro Trossard
- The Frenchman was initially shown a yellow card, but a field review resulted in a red
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William Saliba became the third Arsenal player to be sent off this season after being sent off against Bournemouth.
The French defender brought down Cherries striker Evanilason after a loose back pass from Leandro Trossard on 28 minutes.
Saliba was initially booked for the challenge. However, Rob Jones was sent for a field review and changed it to red.
Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports: ‘I mean he’s still got a long way to go. As soon as it happened, I thought, William Saliba, you’re in trouble here.
‘He gets the wrong side. Obviously if he trusts us to play that ball, let’s look at it here, the way we see it, you can see that the trust side is clearly making a big mistake.
William Saliba became the third Arsenal player to be sent off this season after being sent off at Bournemouth.
The French defender brought down Evanilson after a loose back pass from Leandro Trossard
‘He has no control over the ball. Let’s just leave it there. Take that back. William Saliba is clearly trying to put pressure on the game, which is fine because even though it was someone else in an offside position.
‘Now he gets that one meter lead. Absolutely. But while he’s playing that ball. Then there is panic. William Saliba then grabs hold, because I have no doubts whatsoever. He is one of the fastest defenders in the Premier League. He would be back in time. But is it absolutely a violation?’
Former Arsenal winger Theo Walcott added: ‘If you look at this situation, if you get any professional footballer now, and they are ready for an own goal, I also think there is a clear goal-scoring opportunity.
“I would, you know, for me, I think the decision is probably the right one because now we’re looking at a situation where we’re actually going to assess the pace of the player, like is he not going to be there?”
Saliba’s red at the Vitality Stadium means Arsenal have gone to ten men three times in the first eight games of the season.
Saliba was initially booked, but an on-site review resulted in the decision being overturned
Declan Rice was sent off against Brighton for a second bookable offense after delaying a restart
Leandro Trossard was controversially sent off at Man City after also delaying a restart
The Gunners’ first red card of the season came at home to Brighton when Declan Rice was given his marching orders for a second bookable offense after delaying a restart.
Mikel Arteta’s men were 1-0 up thanks to Kai Havertz, but the match ended in a 1-1 draw as Joao Pedro earned the Seagulls a point.
Arsenal were also reduced to ten men when Leandro Trossard was controversially sent off for a similar foul at Manchester City, with the match ending in a 2–2 draw thanks to a last-ditch goal from John Stones.
