Arsenal will not appeal the red card shown to William Saliba during their 2-1 loss to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.

Arsenal will not appeal the red card shown to William Saliba during their 2-1 loss to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.

The French centre-back was sent off in the first half for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, following a challenge on Bournemouth’s striker

The decision by referee Robert Jones was initially to show a yellow card, but after consultation with the Liverpool-supporting Jarred Gillett on VAR, it was upgraded to a straight red.

Speaking after the match, Mikel Arteta appeared to confirm that Arsenal would not be appealing the decision, meaning Saliba will be suspended for next weekend’s high-profile clash against Liverpool.

 

When asked directly if the club intended to challenge the red card, Arteta responded, “The decision has been made, so that’s it.”

Arteta was also questioned on whether VAR should have intervened in the situation. He remained pragmatic, stating, “I don’t know, they have their own process and decided to do it that way, that’s it.”

 

“I don’t know, it’s a split-second decision you have to make,” Arteta then said of the challenge. “The striker is on his back, he doesn’t expect the ball, and then suddenly it’s coming his way. He’s made a decision, and that’s it. The referee has decided to give a yellow and then a red card.”

Arteta also spoke on the broader impact the sending-off had on the match, which forced Arsenal to play with 10 men for over an hour. “Absolutely, we are obviously very disappointed with the result and gutted because we had to play a game in that context, even more difficult than in the previous two that we already faced this season,” he said.

“Playing for 65 or 68 minutes with 10 men at this level is just an impossible task, an accident waiting to happen to not get the points. I cannot fault the team for their effort, commitment, and how intelligent they played. There was a big moment at 0-0 when we had a one-on-one situation with the keeper, and we didn’t manage to score. At the other end, we made two big errors that cost us the game, unfortunately.”