Rio Ferdinand says he was ‘miffed’ by the reaction of Mikel Arteta to Leandro Trossard’s red card in Arsenal’s draw with Premier League champions Manchester City.
The ten-man Gunners were moments away from sealing a memorable victory at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday when Man City substitute John Stones scrambled home a 98th-minute equaliser.
Arsenal led 2-1 thanks to Riccardo Calafiori’s stunning strike and Gabriel’s towering header, which both came after Erling Haaland opened the scoring with his 100th goal for Manchester City.
But the game completely changed on the stroke of half-time when Trossard picked up a second yellow card for delaying the restart and was therefore sent off.
The Belgian winger was already on a booking for a tactical foul and then, perhaps naively, kicked the ball away after Man City were awarded a free-kick to be shown a second yellow by referee Michael Oliver.
Arteta essentially refused to comment on the incident in several post-match interviews but was clearly furious with the decision, particularly as City’s Jeremy Doku escaped punishment for a similar incident earlier in the half.
It is not the first time this season Arsenal have paid the penalty for delaying the restart, with Declan Rice controversially shown a second yellow card and sent off in the draw with Brighton earlier this month.
Asked for his take on Trossard’s red, Arteta said: ‘It is very obvious, I don’t need to talk about it. I think the red card is very clear, very obvious what people think.
‘It is not my job to come here and judge what happened. My job is to survive in one of the most difficult environments there is in football for 55 minutes and try to get things done to survive.’
‘The rest is not my job, but it has already happened twice in five games which is very worrying to see in the best league the Premier League.
‘[The red card] makes the situation impossible. It is very, very hard to play with 11 players, with ten it is impossible. With ten you have to defend your six yard box time and time again.’
He added: ‘It is obvious what happened when they made that decision, but it doesn’t deserve my comment. I don’t want to ruin anything else off the pitch.’
Ferdinand was ‘miffed’ by Arteta’s take, however, and believes the referee was right to send off Trossard.
‘Did you agree with the red card by the way? I thought it was a red,’ the ex-England and Manchester United defender said on his YouTube channel.
‘I thought it was a [second] yellow card and that makes it a red. I think as players you always know if you kick the ball away, you’re in line for a booking. More often than not you’ll get a booking.
‘That’s why I was a bit miffed with the reaction of the Arsenal manager. I was thinking, “you know what it’s like”.
‘But maybe he’s trying to create a little narrative for his team that they were hard done by, creating that siege mentality.’
Trossard’s red card means he is suspended for Arsenal’s next match – Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup clash with League One side Bolton Wanderers – but can play in next weekend’s Premier League match against Leicester City.
Following the Etihad stalemate, Manchester City remain top of the Premier League, one point above Liverpool and Aston Villa and two above fourth-placed Arsenal after five games.
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