Refereeing decisions got a lot of attention last week after Tottenham beat Liverpool. PGMOL may have breathed a sigh of relief that a big decision didn’t change the outcome of Arsenal’s game against Man City on Sunday.
Mateo Kovacic would have been the talk of the town after Arsenal’s historic match against Manchester City if Gabriel Martinelli hadn’t scored late on thanks to a terrible mistake by Nathan Ake.
On Sunday, there wasn’t much going on because both managers were missing key players and definitely wanted to leave with a point. City almost scored the first goal early on from a set piece, but they rarely got a chance on David Raya’s goal. The home team got a boost when Martinelli came on at halftime, but Ederson wasn’t tested until he was caught off guard for the winner.
However, Gooners would have been more angry about unfair play if the Gunners hadn’t escaped with all three points. Kovacic somehow missed getting sent off in the first half.
Due to some crazy moments in the first few minutes of the game, the Croatian playmaker may have been sent off twice.
Kovacic was careless when he challenged Martin Odegaard for the first time. The captain of Arsenal was getting a pass from William Saliba in a quiet spot when Kovacic swooped in and scored. The City player hit Odegaard just above the ankle while his boots were up.
Michael Oliver quickly showed a yellow card, but the way the challenge was done made VAR look for a possible red card. But Kovacic’s harsh foul wasn’t seen as dangerous enough to change Oliver’s choice on the pitch. A lot of people thought the hit should have been given a “orange card,” which is somewhere between a warning and being sent off. Most likely, VAR wouldn’t have stepped in if Oliver had given Kovacic a straight red.
The more serious call came just six minutes later, though, when Kovacic challenged an Arsenal player again in a rough way. In this case, it was Declan Rice who was caught late by the Croatian international. Gary Neville, a co-commentator on Sky Sports, said something scary: “Oh no…” after Kovavic jumped in to catch Rice’s ankle without touching the ball.
Oliver’s reaction to the foul seemed like a clear case for a booking, but the judge didn’t listen to Arsenal’s pleas for Kovacic to be sent off.
“I really believe he is lucky!” He hits Rice on the right foot. Why is he there? Neville said on analysis, “He should be off.” That was the general opinion. Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher said that Kovacic’s challenges together were definitely enough to get him sent off.
After deciding that Oliver hadn’t made a clear and obvious mistake when Kovacic tackled Odegaard and got a yellow card, the VAR couldn’t do anything because the referee decided not to give the midfielder his second warning.
The technology has only been able to point the referee’s attention to a possible red card since it was brought to the Premier League. The VAR can’t step in to make choices about a possible second yellow card.
It was late and sloppy when Kovacic challenged Rice, but it wasn’t bad enough to get a straight red card.
