William Saliba will miss Arsenal’s top-of-the-table clash against Liverpool with the Gunners opting to not challenge the red card he received against Bournemouth.
The French central defender was given his marching orders against the Cherries when it was deemed he denied Evanilson a clear, goalscoring opportunity, but only after VAR’s intervention. Saliba was initially only shown a yellow card, with the eventual decision to upgrade his punishment proving controversial.
It will be a short absence for Saliba with a red card for the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity resulting only in a one-match suspension. There could be few worse occasions to miss than when facing the league leaders however.
The former St Etienne prospct rarely misses a game and has formed a formidable partnership alongside Gabriel Magalhaes. Playing every minute last season, Saliba’s presence in the Premier League can be seen to make a significant difference.
Since the beginning of 2022/23, Saliba has played 73 matches in the Premier League and recorded an average of 2.4 points per gam with a win percentage of 74 per cent. That drops to 45.5 per cent during the 11 games he has been unavailable and an average of 1.6 points per match. The number of goals the north London side conceded per game also doubles from 0.8 to 1.6.
Saliba’s absence will be met with greater frustration given former referee Mark Halsey does not believe three criteria were met to make that decision. The ex-official also noted, at the very least that the initial decision could not be deemed an obvious error.
“It’s a subjective decision, so I didn’t think VAR Jarred Gillett needed to get involved,” Halsey told the Sun. “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.”
Saliba’s sending off marked Arsenal’s third red card of the season and the third time they’d dropped points as a result. Despit any possibl complaints, it is something Arteta wants his side to eradicate.
“Well, I mean, playing with 10 men, obviously there is an issue,” he said ahead of Shakhtar Donetsk. “The truth is when you analyse the three very different actions and the outcome of them, the reasons are very different.
“Regardless of that, we cannot continue to play with 10 men, especially at this level. And you see how struggling, all the teams have to win football matches. When you want to do it against 10 men for 65 minutes, the task becomes almost impossible. So, we need to eradicate that. It’s clear why, the reason and how, it doesn’t matter. We have to focus and it has to happen.”
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