Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher seems to be doing his best to wind up Arsenal fans it seems after the figure claimed Bukayo Saka fouled Ezri Konas during Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Aston Villa.
Having been played through on goal, the youngster seemed to have a clear path on goal before being brought down by the former Brentford man.
However, it seems Gallagher doesn’t agree that the foul should’ve been a red as he blamed the England international for bringing down the Villa man.
Gallagher said: “I’m not sure if it is a foul on the Villa player, to be honest, I think Saka fouls Konsa.” (via Football Daily)
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I’ve been watching the incident back since Saturday’s defeat at Villa Park and I’m 100% certain the former official is trolling viewers.
Saka was always ahead of Konsa after he was played in behind the high Villa defence on Saturday. So to go an say he brought down the defender is one of the most outrageous things I’ve heard in a long time.
As a matter of fact, the 19-year-old was targeted a lot during the Premier League defeat without much punishment for any of Dean Smith’s men.
And as a whole, the officiating in the top-flight has been nothing short of abysmal over the last few weeks with many players getting wrongly sent-off and some even diving to win penalties.
Tomas Soucek saw red in West Ham United’s clash with Fulham last weekend despite clips showing he accidentally elbowed Aleksandre Mitrovic. The Serbian forward even admitted that the duel between the pair, which took place in stoppage time, was fair, however, Mike Dean saw fit to send off the Eastern European anyway.
The standard of officiating is shocking in the English top-flight and having seen some of the decisions Arsenal have faced over the last few games, I can only assume Gallagher is defending the referee as opposed to agreeing with him.
In other news, one player could be set to return to action ‘soon’.
