{"id":606508,"date":"2026-04-26T00:13:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T00:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/606508\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T00:13:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T00:13:16","slug":"mikel-arteta-criticises-red-card-escapes-for-newcastles-pope-and-citys-khusanov-arsenal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/606508\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta criticises red card escapes for Newcastle\u2019s Pope and City\u2019s Khusanov | Arsenal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mikel Arteta has claimed that everything would be different for his Arsenal team in the Premier League title race if Manchester City had been reduced to 10 men in last Sunday\u2019s pivotal game<\/a> at the Eithad Stadium.<\/p>\n

The Arsenal<\/a> manager insisted that the City defender, Abdukodir Khusanov, should have been sent off for a last-man foul on Kai Havertz in the 53rd minute with the score at 1-1. City went on to win 2-1 and Arteta said nothing after the game about an incident that did not generate much controversy, the consensus being Khusanov had defended his position fairly.<\/p>\n

But Arteta spoke out after Arsenal had beaten Newcastle 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium<\/a> on Saturday to move three points back in front of City at the top of the table, albeit having played an extra match. It was another occasion in which Arteta felt the opposition should have had a red card \u2013 specifically for the Newcastle goalkeeper, Nick Pope.<\/p>\n

With Arsenal 1-0 up thanks to Eberechi Eze\u2019s early goal, Pope left his area to clear in the 74th minute only to miss the ball and foul the Arsenal substitute Viktor Gy\u00f6keres with his follow-through. Newcastle had Malick Thiaw covering between both players and the goal. Pope was booked and when the video assistant referee checked for a possible red, the decision was there was not enough in it to merit a review for an upgrade.<\/p>\n

Nick Pope brings down Viktor Gy\u00f6keres during Arsenal\u2019s win at the Emirates. Photograph: Mark Leech\/Offside\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a clear red card,\u201d Arteta said. \u201cI\u2019ve watched it 10 times. If you have ever played football, it is a red card. It\u2019s the second time in two games because I guess Manchester City<\/a>, when Kai Havertz goes through, Khusanov fouls him, 1-1, the title is there \u2026 it is a red card, guys. So these are the margins as well and hopefully that\u2019s going to change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here to give my opinion and somebody that has been in the game for a long time \u2026 you talk to any of the players, because the trajectory of where the ball is, there\u2019s no keeper there. If that were to happen the other way around, it\u2019s a red card.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m saying the reality of the last two games, in crucial moments when everything is at stake, we need everything to go our way and it hasn\u2019t. I\u2019m not putting any excuses, I\u2019m the first one to understand. I didn\u2019t talk about it when we lost the game [at City]. I\u2019m doing it 1777162396 when we won. It\u2019s a red card today. It\u2019s a red card in Manchester and the world is different. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kai Havertz goes down under a challenge from Abdukodir Khusanov. Mikel Arteta has said now that the Manchester City player should have been sent off. Photograph: Dave Thompson\/AP<\/p>\n

Eze\u2019s winner against Newcastle came after Arsenal won their third early corner of the game and, unusually, worked it short for the third time. The home crowd had groaned when they did so on the second one but, to Arteta\u2019s delight, the players\u2019 belief in the move paid off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the teams are so physical that they can defend naturally, you have to find other ways,\u201d Arteta said. \u201cThe thing that I like best is the courage of the players because we play short and you can see the reaction in the crowd. On the third one \u2026 courage, big courage. In this moment, when the pressure is on, when the reaction is like this to [the] play, that\u2019s exactly what I want for the team because the players have to make the decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was another nervy occasion but, as Arsenal chase their first title since 2004, Arteta said it was simply par for the course. \u201cI don\u2019t expect, after 22 years of not winning it, that it\u2019s going to be a path of roses and beautiful music around it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be like this and we are ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Eze and Havertz were forced off with muscle niggles but Arteta suggested they were not too serious. Arsenal play the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at Atl\u00e9tico Madrid on Wednesday night. \u201cWe don\u2019t think it\u2019s too much,\u201d Arteta said. \u201cWe have to wait and see if they\u2019re going to be available for Wednesday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta has claimed that everything would be different for his Arsenal team in the Premier League title…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-606508","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}