Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta is not happy as to how Eddie Nketiah was sent off against Leicester City on Tuesday night and insisted if Nketiah’s red card was warranted then Jamie Vardy, who scored a late equaliser for the 1-1 draw, also should have been sent off.
“I am extremely proud of the team – the way we played, against this type of opposition, and how dominant we were,” Arsenal boss Arteta told Sky Sports.
“In the first half we should have gone three- or four-nil up and killed the game.
“With the red card decision, he (Nketiah) doesn’t see the player and you have to know that he is a young kid.
“But if that is a red card then Leicester have to play with 10 men after 42 minutes. That has to be a red card as well.”
Arteta was talking about a clash between Vardy and Shkodran Mustafi where the Leicester striker struck the Arsenal defender with a boot just above the eye.
Later, Arsenal forward Nketiah was dismissed in the 75th minute just four minutes after being introduced as a substitute by a VAR call.
“I can see what Mikel Arteta is saying because it looks really dangerous and he caught him in the face with his studs,” said Sky Sports’ Jamie Redknapp as he reviewed the clash.
“It looks really nasty.”
Arteta added in his post-match press conference: “If we review incidents of that type, we review them all. It has to be something equal for everybody because it changes the game completely. If Eddie is a red card, then for sure the other one is a red card.”