Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey has claimed that he was left “bewildered” that Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny was not shown a red card against Burnley.
On Sunday, Mikel Arteta’s Gunners hosted Sean Dyche’s Clarets at the Emirates Stadium and fell to a 1-0 defeat (per Premier League).
Aside from the loss, the evening could have been made worse for the north London club had Elneny been sent off for raising his hands to the face of James Tarkowski late in the second half (per Sky Sports).
Speaking exclusively to This is Futbol about the incident, Halsey said: “I think David Coote was the VAR official and I just sat there bewildered.
“I was amazed that he correctly recommended a review for the [Granit] Xhaka one but then for the second incident, for the life of me, I cannot understand why he’s not recommended another review.
“I’m sure, had he gone over to the monitor and looked at that, he would have sent him off – no question about it for me.”
Should Mohamed Elneny have been sent off against Burnley?
Yes, it was a clear red
No, it was not a red
As mentioned by Halsey, Arteta’s side had already been reduced to 10 men in the clash as Granit Xhaka saw red following a VAR intervention earlier in the match.
The Swiss midfielder clashed with Burnley winger Dwight McNeil after fouling him, before grabbing Ashley Westwood by the throat.
Having initially been awarded a yellow card by Graham Scott for the incident, that was then upgraded to a red card after VAR advised Scott to view the incident on the pitchside monitor.
Halsey continued: “You can see it upsets fans; the way they’re implementing VAR in the Premier League – it’s just all over the place.
“We need change, and we need change very soon, because it’s driving the fans crazy because they’re as important as anybody else in the game and we’re going to drive fans away.
“We need to get this sorted.”
The defeat against the Clarets means that Arsenal are now without a win in five consecutive Premier League matches, four of which have been lost (per Transfermarkt).
This poor form in the top flight has left the Gunners sat in 15th place, just five points above the relegation zone (per BBC).