Arteta's reaction to Arsenal yellow card speaks volumes about feelings on refs

17 December 2023 , 19:15

778     0

Arteta's reaction to Arsenal yellow card speaks volumes about feelings on refs

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has claimed he was "waving to Gabriel Martinelli" during the incident that saw him pick up his fourth yellow card of the season.

The Spaniard was cautioned in the first half of the Gunners' 2-0 win over Brighton after Kaoru Mitoma was booked for pulling back Bukayo Saka. Arteta made his frustration clear on the touchline and referee Tim Robinson quickly came across to brandish a yellow card.

However, speaking in his post-match press conference, Arteta insisted he was pointing his arms at Martinelli, rather than at Mitoma's foul on Saka. "I was waving to Martinelli," Arteta replied when quizzed about his yellow card, which was his fourth in 17 Premier League matches this season.

Arteta wasn't capable of receiving a booking in the dugout for one of those games, however, as he was serving a one-match touchline suspension during Arsenal's 1-0 defeat against Aston Villa last Saturday. Arteta will be suspended for two matches if he gets to eight yellow cards this season.

The 41-year-old now has the most yellow cards out of any manager in the top flight this term, with Manchester United's Erik ten Hag and Fulham's Marco Silva both on three bookings. If a Premier League manager receives 16 yellow cards, they will need to attend an FA misconduct hearing.

Mikel Arteta's dream Arsenal line up as last-gasp January transfers are secured

Referee Tim Robinson showed Mikel Arteta a yellow card during Arsenal's win over Brighton (Getty Images)

Arteta received his third yellow card of the campaign after running out of his technical area to celebrate Declan Rice's last-gasp winner at Luton. "I could not be seated in my seat," he told beIN Sports after that incident.

"It was pure emotion. If that's a yellow... that's a yellow." Arteta added in his post-Luton press conference: "I think we have a boundary that maybe we have to extend or we just need a very strong rope with the bench so maybe we don't move. That means we don't move, all of us, we don't move."

As for the result, Arsenal moved to the top of the Premier League after their 2-0 win over Brighton. Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz struck for the Gunners as they leapfrogged Liverpool into top spot, and Arteta's men will stay at the summit until at least next weekend when the top two go head-to-head at Anfield.

Speaking on his side's performance against Brighton, Arteta told BBC Sport: "Incredible performance. A joy to watch from the start to the end. The way we did it against this very good team. Even at half-time the scoreline didn’t reflect that. We fully deserved to win the game. We had 15 shots [in the first half], it was a lot. We had to keep going. We don’t have that accuracy in front of goal."

Kieran King