Mikel Arteta has apologised for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s red card challenge against Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon, adding he hopes the player is not injured.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could have no complaints when his yellow card was upgraded to a red upon a VAR review. It was late and if it had been against one of our players we would have demanded the same.

Asked about it after the game, Mikel Arteta responded with the class we expect from the person in charge of Arsenal.

“I just watched it and it looked nasty, to be fair,” he said. “Knowing Auba, there’s no intention to make such a tackle.

“Hopefully he hasn’t been injured and we are sorry for that. The decision was made and we have to accept it.

Roy Hodgson said after the match, “I knew at the time – because it was very close to me – that it was a bad challenge. I’m not accusing Aubameyang of deliberately trying to injure the player; I’m sure he didn’t.

“But when I saw it afterwards on the video, presumably the same video the people at Stockley Park have seen, it’s no doubt that it’s a red card, it’s no doubt it’s a very bad challenge and I’m a little bit surprised that we had to wait so long for that decision to be taken.

“The position of his ankle as the challenge comes in is not a pleasant thing to see. I’d be very surprised if there isn’t any ligament damage there but we won’t know that until Monday.”

Hopefully, the results are positive.

I feel compelled to note that Arteta’s reaction is in stark contrast to how Tottenham deal with their red cards.

They take no responsibility whatsoever for the actions of their players, even when they result in broken legs.

Then, when the same player kicks another with two feet in the chest, they appeal that too saying it was undeserved.

Thankfully, Arteta really does get what Arsenal are all about. As, it seems, does Jose Mourinho.