Arsenal: Ex-PL referee disagrees with Saliba red card amid ‘three doubts’; snubs Carragher conspiracy

Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey has revealed why he thinks Arsenal defender William Saliba should not have been sent off against AFC Bournemouth.

The Gunners were dealt a huge early blow against the Cherries as France international Saliba was sent off after half an hour.

Saliba was initially booked by referee Robert Jones for fouling Bournemouth striker Evanilson. However, this decision was overturned following a VAR review as the defender was adjudged to have denied his opponent a goalscoring opportunity.

This proved costly as Arsenal were deservedly beaten by Bournemouth, who won 2-0 thanks to goals from Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert.

Speaking post-match, head coach Mikel Arteta claimed Saliba’s red card gave his side an “impossible task”.

“Playing for 65 minutes with 10 men at this level is an impossible task,” Arteta said.

“It’s an accident waiting to happen not to get the points. I can’t fault the team for their effort, commitment, how intelligent they were to play in the way that we had to.

“There was a big moment at 0-0 when we had a big opening, a one-against-one situation with the keeper and we don’t manage to score.

“Football is a sport where errors are part of that. Tonight we made two big errors that have cost us the game unfortunately.”

READ: Arsenal will ‘bottle it again’ with ‘pragmatist’ Arteta ‘missing’ final puzzle piece; Saliba ‘incredibly dumb’

Halsey meanwhile has explained why he “had major doubts” about Saliba’s red card.

“I had major doubts over William Saliba’s red card and would have stayed with referee Rob Jones’ on-field decision of a caution,” Halsey wrote for The Sun.

“The Arsenal defender fouled Bournemouth striker Evanilson but was it a clear and obvious error for VAR to intervene?

“It’s a subjective decision, so I didn’t think VAR Jarred Gillett needed to get involved. 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.”

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Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher responded to PGMOL chief Howard Webb being shown listening to the referees’ discussions over the decision and then using his phone in the crowd. In a since-deleted tweet, he said:  ‘Was Howard Webb involved in the decision making of the red card for Saliba??’

Halsey does not think there was anything untoward going on, though.

“PGMOL chiefs Howard Webb was spotted on TV listening into the VAR comms and that is normal for him to have access — just like the media broadcasters,” Halsey added.

“There is no way he would have had any input or communication into the Saliba red card.”