Eventually, Arsenal were able to overcome Southampton in comfortable fashion at the Emirates thanks to an immediate response to going behind......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
By and large, Arsenal were ineffective in the first half and Southampton and Aaron Ramsdale were standing tall in N5.
Ramsdale was coping relatively well under the pressure of Arsenal’s set pieces and the goalkeeper was also looking composed with the ball at his feet.
That shouldn’t be a surprise, the England international won a PFA TOTS award under Mikel Arteta, and Ramsdale is still so popular with Arsenal fans as a result.
That being said, it was a surprise that Arsenal weren’t making more opportunities to score, which is perhaps an ode to how much Arteta’s side are missing Martin Odegaard.
However, after an incident in the 42nd minute, perhaps Arsenal should have been playing against 10-men.
Tyler Dibling should have been sent off after referee dive decision
Recently, Arsenal have been on the wrong end of two dubious red card decisions, both Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard have been handed debatable second yellows.
However, in Arsenal’s 3-1 win at the Emirates on Saturday, Tony Harrington resisted the urge to hand exciting Southampton talent Tyler Dibling a second yellow.
Dibling was yellow-carded in the 39th minute of the game for pulling back Riccardo Calafiori after losing possession, a decision he accepted.
However, three or so minutes later, Dibling then went down dramatically after an impressive surge through the middle of the pitch, claiming that he had been fouled by Gabriel Magalhaes.
Harrington didn’t give a free-kick, seemingly agreeing with Gabriel’s gesture that Dibling had dived, the Brazilian thought there was no contact at all.
In truth, it looked like Dibling was fouled, Gabriel left his leg in, bringing the youngster down.
However, if the referee didn’t think it was a foul then it had to be a dive, it wasn’t really one that could sit in the middle.
Therefore, after not giving a free-kick, Harrington should have sent Dibling off for a second yellow, at least, that’s how harshly the law has been interpreted some Premier League games of late.
Tony Harrington made a mistake in Arsenal vs Southampton
Of course, taking a step back, the majority of football fans won’t want Dibling sent off for such a trivial moment, especially given he did appear to be fouled.
However, in respect to achieving consistency across the league, Dibling should have gone given the ref’s decision not to award a foul.
As mentioned, the law has been interpreted in a very strict way at the Emirates of late, and Arteta and the other managers in the Premier League will simply want the same standards for every team.
No one wants to debate every referee decision, taking the focus away from football, but if Premier League officials want to set a new level of precedent, it has to be upheld consistently.
Dibling was brilliant at the Emirates, but in line with recent standards, he shouldn’t have come back out for the second half.