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Why Mikel Arteta is angry despite Arsenal victory against Crystal Palace
Mikel Arteta was still left angry despite picking up the maximum three points against Crystal Palace on Monday night.
Arteta has criticised the refereeing on the night following Takehiro Tomiyasu dismissal for two soft yellow cards and is concerned by the way time-wasting is being punished.
Arsenal dominated the first half with two excellent goal scoring chances. Firstly, Eddie Nketiah had hit the post. The forward again dinked the ball over the bar from six yards out with the other.
The Gunners took a deserved lead from the penalty spot. Martin Odegaard scored from the spot when Nketiah was brought down in the area by Sam Johnstone.
Meanwhile, the game changed in controversial fashion in the 67th minute. Arsenal’s Tomiyasu was shown two yellow cards in the space of just a few minutes.
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The first was for time-wasting. Though team-mate Kai Havertz seemed to be the bigger culprit during the incident. And the second for a tug of Andre Ayew’s shirt. But replays suggested there was minimal, if any, contact.
The red card incident had forced Arsenal to defend for the rest of the night.
Arteta clearly felt the officiating at Selhurst Park was rather heavy-handed and suggested the ‘new rules’ had been introduced on the fly and were different from what had been explained to teams before the season started.
Asked if understood why the first yellow card for Tomiyasu was given, a clearly annoyed Arteta told Sky Sports bluntly: ‘I’m a really open person, I understand everything.’
Probed on how frustrating the application of the new time-wasting rules are, the Arsenal boss replied: ‘The new rules is one thing. The new rules that I don’t know where they are and they haven’t communicated, that’s something very different.
‘But we will adapt. Today we had to win it in this context and we’ve done it.’
Asked if referees will struggle to apply the rules consistently over the course of the season, Arteta added: ‘I don’t know. That’s something they have to do. It’s going to be very difficult for us I guarantee you. We’ll have to play with 10, or maybe with nine or with eight!
Probed on how frustrating the application of the new time-wasting rules are, the Arsenal boss replied: ‘The new rules is one thing. The new rules that I don’t know where they are and they haven’t communicated, that’s something very different.
‘But we will adapt. Today we had to win it in this context and we’ve done it.’