Gary Neville branded Leandro Trossard’s second yellow card in Arsenal’s trip to Manchester City “stupidity” as Mikel Arteta raged when his Belgian star was told to leave the pitch.
With the Gunners moments away from heading into half-time with a significant advantage, leading 2-1 thanks to goals from Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel, Trossard handed the hosts a chance at coming back into the match.
Already on a yellow and deep into the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time, Trossard fouled Bernardo Silva when challenging for a header, before booting the ball away after the whistle to earn his marching orders.
He left referee Anthony Taylor with little option but to brandish another yellow as Mikel Arteta covered his face with his jumper in disbelief, just weeks after Declan Rice was sent off at Brighton for a similar offence.
“Arteta has put his jumper over his head,” Neville said on commentary for Sky Sports. “I don’t think he can complain. It’s a foul. He barges Bernardo Silva and then he wellies the ball away. The reason we know he’s heard the whistle is he half pulls away.
“It was stupidity. I know they’re giving him a hug but I think they’ll be disappointed with him when they reflect on it.”
Jamie Carragher added: “The position Arsenal find themselves in, what is Trossard doing?”
Roy Keane was similarly unimpressed as he said: “When you’re on a yellow card, do not give the referee a chance to send you off. You can say it’s harsh all you want but it’s a yellow card.”
However, Arsenal will point to another moment in the opening 45 minutes when Jeremy Doku fouled Jurrien Timber, before knocking the ball back an additional 15 yards when the Gunners defender attempted to play a short pass to Rice with the restart.
The Premier League Match Centre, which provides real-time updates concerning VAR, confirmed that Trossard was shown a second yellow card for kicking the ball away as opposed to the foul on Silva.
On their X (formerly known as Twitter) account, they wrote: “The referee issued a second yellow card to Leandro Trossard for delaying the restart.”
