Arsenal fans angry at Tosin Adarabioyo's yellow card in Chelsea's clash with Liverpool
Arsenal fans expressed their fury when Chelsea's Tosin Adarabioyo received a yellow card for a similar foul that led to William Saliba's sending off.
Adarabioyo was caught by a long ball over the top intended for the Liverpool star Diogo Jota.
As Jota looked to pass, Adarabioyo tangled with the Reds forward and tackled him to the ground just beyond the halfway line.
Despite the Chelsea As the centre-back was the last man, he escaped with only a yellow card from referee John Brooks.
Adarabioyo's foul was very comparable to Saliba during Arsenal's 2-0 loss to Bournemouth on Saturday.
Like Adarabioyo, Saliba was caught a meter behind when Leandro Trossard's loose back pass went over his head.
With Bournemouth striker Evanilson in front of him, Saliba grabbed his opponent by the arm and dragged him to the ground.
Saliba was initially shown a yellow card by referee Robert Jones, but following a VAR review, the card was upgraded to red.
With several Arsenal fans tuned into Chelsea's match against Liverpool given the implications at the top end of the table, it didn't take long for their verdicts to arrive.
A supporter of the gunners wrote in X: “Exactly the same situation as Saliba, Tosin should be expelled there. No coherence as usual!”
Another addition: “If Saliba received a red card yesterday, then Tosin Adarabioyo should have been sent off today.”
ESPN reporter Eduardo Hagn published: “Tosin Adarabioyo was not sent off after exactly the same foul as Saliba yesterday. INCREDIBLE.”
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However, an extenuating circumstance that helped Adarabioyo avoid the red was the proximity of his closest defender.
When Adarabioyo contacted Jota, Levi Colwill was very close and may have returned to challenge him.
In Saliba's case, his closest defender was Ben White, who was on the other side of the center circle when Trossard played his back pass.
Under FA laws, referees have four criteria to consider when trying to determine whether a player has denied an opponent an obvious scoring opportunity.
Referees must evaluate the distance between the foul and the goal, the general direction of play, the probability of maintaining or gaining control of the ball, as well as the location of the foul and the number of defenders involved.
The fourth criterion is perhaps what could have saved Adarabioyo from expulsion, although Chelsea ultimately failed to beat Liverpool.
Arne Slot's team emerged victorious 2-1 thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah and Curtis Jones either side of Nicolas Jackson's impeccable finish.
As for Adarabioyo, he was substituted in the 53rd minute and replaced by fellow centre-back Benoit Badiashile two minutes after Jones scored what turned out to be the winning goal.
