For the fourth match in a row, Arsenal’s opponents were fortunate to escape a red card on Saturday, with Sasa Lukic the lucky beneficiary on this occasion.
For the most part, Saturday’s match between Arsenal and Fulham was a very positive one for the Gunners. The team took the all-important three points, they added three to their goal difference, and they substituted some players early ahead of Tuesday’s semi-final second leg.
But the scoreline could have been even better if Sasa Lukic had been sent off at 3-0 in the 66th minute, and that’s arguably what the midfielder deserved.
Already on a yellow, Lukic reached out and pulled Myles Lewis-Skelly to the floor after the Arsenal midfielder had beaten him with a dribble. It was a cynical foul with no attempt to play the ball, denying Arsenal a free run through midfield.
In most circumstances, that’s a standard booking. But referee Jarred Gillett seemed to check who was committing the foul before waving away the appeals.
The frustration for Arsenal fans is primarily that this was a chance to rack up even more goals, and 24 minutes against 10 men would have been a great chance to do so.
But it also seems as though these marginal calls are consistently going against the Gunners at the moment.
In midweek, Atletico’s David Hancko brought down Viktor Gyokeres for a penalty as the Arsenal man shaped to shoot, making no attempt to play the ball. The incident seemed to meet the criteria for the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity (also known as a DOGSO foul), but no red was shown.
Even a yellow might have eventually seen Hancko dismissed, as he picked up another yellow later in the game for dissent. But the referee only gave the penalty and no further punishment.
Before the Atletico game, Mikel Arteta had complained that players should have been sent off in both the Newcastle United match and the Manchester City match for potential DOGSO fouls. Nick Pope and Abdukodir Khusanov the lucky men in each case.
“The trajectory, where the ball is, there’s no keeper there. If that were to happen the other way around, it’s a red card,” Arteta said after Newcastle.
“We need everything to go our way and it hasn’t. I’m not making any excuses; I’m the first one to understand. I didn’t talk about it when we lost the game. I’m doing it when we won. It’s a red card today, it’s a red card in Manchester and the world is different. That’s it.”
To have four incidents where a player reasonably could have been sent off in four consecutive matches and have all four go against your team is indeed very frustrating. Particularly at a point in the reason where Arsenal need all the help they can get.
Supporters can only hope it’s not the same story again for the fifth game in a row on Tuesday.
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