Arsenal cruised to a 4-1 win over Leeds United but perhaps there could have been a red card in this game.
Images from the most recent Arsenal game suggest that VAR and the referee may have missed a possible red card and penalty for an elbow on Leandro Trossard.
What’s the latest Arsenal issue with VAR?
It was a pretty comfortable day for the Gunners in the end as they played host to relegation candidates Leeds United at the Emirates.
Indeed, the home side managed to extend their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League table with another convincing victory.
After an even start to the game, Gabriel Jesus won and then scored a penalty to open the scoring and give Arsenal the lead going into the break. In the second half, an effort from Ben White and another for Jesus put Mikel Arteta and co out of reach.
Rasmus Kristensen did pull on back for the Whites but Granit Xhaka cancelled that out and so the Gunners picked up all three points with a 4-1 victory.
However, before that final goal, with Arsenal looking to fend off any potential Leeds comeback, there was a pretty interesting off-ball incident.
Indeed, opposition midfielder Marc Roca can be seen – in this footage – digging Trossard in the back with a nasty and deliberate elbow.
Was it a foul and a penalty on Trossard?
Seeing as FA rules state that a foul cane be given if a player “charges an opponent, even with the shoulder”, or “strikes or attempts to strike an opponent”, it’s fair to say this elbow could have been classed as a punishable offence.
What’s more, the ruiles also note: “A penalty kick is awarded if a player commits any of the aforementioned offences inside his own penalty area, irrespective of the position of the ball but provided that it is in play.”
And so, had the referee spotted the incident – or if VAR had seen it and opted to intervene – it’s likely that Roca would have been punished and a penalty would have been awarded.
On top of that, it could have fallen into either the S1 “guilty of serious foul play” or S2 “guilty of violent conduct” category of offences worthy of a red card.
And so, Leeds can probably count themselves pretty lucky that Roca wasn’t sent off and they didn’t have to face their second penalty of the game.
Journalist James Benge, also noted the incident and wrote on Twitter: “At the time this just seemed to be nothing but watching the game back and seeing clips on here it appears that Marc Roca elbowed Trossard in the back off the ball. I can’t see any way you can see it in video form and thinks it’s an accident.”
In the end, it didn’t change much as the Gunners still got the win but Trossard – who is paid
£90k-p/w – might be nursing a bruised back today, so he’ll likely be annoyed not to have seen any punishment here.
