{"id":591890,"date":"2026-05-19T05:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/591890\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T05:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:37:11","slug":"premier-league-explanation-as-arsenal-star-kai-havertz-avoids-red-card-for-vicious-tackle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/591890\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier League explanation as Arsenal star Kai Havertz avoids red card for ‘vicious’ tackle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kai Havertz was not sent off in Arsenal’s match against Burnley despite Gary Neville’s view that the Germany forward deserved a red card<\/p>\n

21:54, 18 May 2026Updated 22:16, 18 May 2026<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The challenge from Kai Havertz on Lesley Ugochukwu was reviewed by VAR(Image: Sky Sports)<\/p>\n

Gary Neville believes Arsenal<\/a> forward Kai Havertz was \u2018lucky\u2019 to escape a red card for a challenge on Burnley midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu. Havertz went in strongly on Ugochukwu in the 67th minute<\/a> as Burnley looked to take the ball forwards against the Gunners from the edge of their box.<\/p>\n

Havertz<\/a> \u2019s studs appeared to go down Ugochukwu\u2019s calf from behind and the 22-year-old appeared to gesture that he thought the challenge was strong.<\/p>\n

Referee Paul Tierney quickly showed Havertz a yellow card<\/a> but Neville, on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports, thought the correct decision would be to send the Germany international off.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI don’t like that. I don’t like it at all. It’s a horrible one, it’s vicious from Havertz.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think this is a red. There’s no way you’re getting the ball, you can only hurt the player there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The VAR James Bell reviewed the incident but stuck with Tierney\u2019s on-field decision to caution Havertz. Neville responded: \u201cI don’t think it’s right – he’s a lucky boy. I’d get him off the pitch straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kai<\/p>\n

Kai Havertz scored the winning goal as Arsenal beat Burnley(Image: 2026 Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Indeed, Mikel Arteta did take the goalscorer Havertz off, with Viktor Gyokeres brought on not long after.<\/p>\n

The Premier League’s Match Centre account issued an explanation on the decision, posting on X: “The referee\u2019s call of yellow card to Havertz was checked and confirmed by VAR \u2013 with the challenge deemed not to be serious foul play.”<\/p>\n

Arsenal are now just one win away from a first Premier League title in 22 years after beating Burnley 1-0<\/a>. The Gunners travel to Crystal Palace on the final day, but may not need that victory if second-placed Manchester City fail to win at Bournemouth on Tuesday night (7:30pm BST).<\/p>\n

And Arteta has called on the club’s fans to play their part with a Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain also to come.<\/p>\n

Speaking after Monday’s win over the Clarets, he said: “It’s an absolute joy to witness the transformation and contribution each of you has had to turn this place into the most beautiful place to enjoy a football club.<\/p>\n

“This is the soul of this football club. Each of you contribute to that. Make sure every time you step in this stadium, you face the responsibility to keep it at these standards. It makes all the difference.<\/p>\n

“I will see you soon in Selhurst Park and then Budapest as well. Please be the protagonists to these amazing group of players and staff.”<\/p>\n

Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package<\/p>\n

This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/a>\"Content<\/p>\n

Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.<\/p>\n

Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kai Havertz was not sent off in Arsenal’s match against Burnley despite Gary Neville’s view that the Germany…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[199357,33718,59,3646,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-591890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-arsenal-vs-burnley","tag-gary-neville","tag-gb","tag-kai-havertz","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}