Mikel Arteta blasted the decision to send Leandro Trossard off and questioned the timing of Manchester City’s late equaliser against Arsenal.
Arteta refused to get into the specifics of why he disagreed with the second yellow card handed to the Arsenal attacker for kicking the ball away after he had committed a foul on Bernardo Silva that was arguably worthy of the card in its own right. Sidestepping a question that asked about Jeremy Doku kicking the ball away earlier in the half and not getting a yellow, Arteta said that he expects other teams to be treated as severely as the Gunners have been in recent matches.
“I prefer not to comment. It was that obvious that I leave it to you guys. I was already in big trouble trying to solve what happened on the pitch.
Arteta also made reference to the last minute being the 97th and then it was 99th when John Stones popped up with the equaliser for City. Seven minutes were added on but Stones scored from a City corner in the 98th minute to leave the game at 2-2.
When it was put to the Arsenal manager that more time was added on in injury time because of the way his team delayed restarts, he responded with a vague answer that appeared to suggest the referee was responsible for Arsenal’s tactics.
“If I’m not commenting on the first part, you can understand I won’t comment on the second part,” he said. “If I haven’t made a comment on the first action, I won’t comment on the consequence of acting in a certain way.
