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Leandro Trossard was sent off in unusual circumstances at the end of a wild first half between Manchester City and Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.
City had taken the lead when Erling Haaland struck early in the game and the champions looked in full control. But the game unravelled for Pep Guardiola’s side, first when Rodri came off injured on 20 minutes, and then when Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori swept home a stunning equaliser.
Gabriel then rose to power home a head and give Arsenal a 2-1 lead heading into half-time, but moments before the break the Gunners were reduced to 10 men in unusual circumstances when Trossard first clattered into City’s Bernardo Silva, and then kicked the ball away in frustration.
With the score at 1-1, Trossard had first been booked after 36 minutes for pulling back City’s flying winger Savinho. Arsenal’s players and manager, Mikel Arteta, then protested furiously as Michael Oliver produced the yellow card again, followed by red, but to no avail.
VAR confirmed that the second yellow card was for delaying the restart, rather than Trossard’s robust challenge on Bernardo Silva.
It is the second time this season that an Arsenal player has been sent off for earning a second booking after kicking the ball away, following Declan Rice’s red against Brighton at the Emirates Stadium. But where Rice tapped the ball and was then kicked by Joel Veltman, Trossard could have little excuse for smashing it into the distance.
Trossard appeared to claim that he had already kicked the ball before registering that the whistle had gone, but Oliver was unimpressed with the Belgian’s protestations.
Roy Keane was equally unmoved. “You’re on a yellow card – listen, unfortunately I had a few reds – you try not to give a referee a chance to give you another yellow,” said the pundit on Sky Sports. “He’s given him the perfect opportunity to say ‘look, you’ve barged into somebody’, and he has kicked the ball away.
“It’s not even a debate. You don’t need to watch it 30 times, he’s wrong. It’s a second yellow and it’s the height of stupidity.”
Arsenal fans might well point to a similar moment in the first half when City’s Jeremy Doku kicked the ball away to slow the Gunners when taking a free-kick, and went unpunished.
The Gunners produced a defiant second-half display with 10 men, defending their box doggedly and almost pulling off a remarkable victory. But John Stones struck at the death, with 98 minutes on the clock, as City stole a share of the points.
