William Saliba was careless – he deserved to be sent off

William Saliba was sent off just 27 minutes into the match at the Vitality Stadium
William Saliba was sent off just 27 minutes into the match at the Vitality Stadium - Getty Images/Catherine Ivill

William Saliba saw a red card in the first half of the match against Bournemouth and thanks to his clumsy effort as the last defender, he deserved to be sent off.

When you look at the law around the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, the following must be considered: the distance between the offence and the goal; the general direction of the play; the likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball; the location and number of defenders in the area.

In this incident, with Bournemouth on the attack, Evanilson got the wrong side of Saliba and looked to be clean through on goal before he came together with the defender and was brought down. Upon review after stepping aside to watch replays of the moment, referee Rob Jones cancelled out the yellow card he had already flashed and showed Saliba a red instead.

William Saliba was a shown a red card after his coming together with Evanilson
William Saliba was a shown a red card after his coming together with Evanilson - PA/Steven Paston

So what the referee had to consider in the moment here was the likelihood of the attacking player gaining possession and controlling the ball, given that there was no covering defender beyond Saliba. This is another good intervention by the VAR to send the referee to the monitor. The referee then clearly judged that the forward would have gained possession if unimpeded and then shot on goal.

Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya was backing off. Considering Saliba made no attempt to gain possession, the referee then must consider the distance from the goal and the ability of the attacker to have a shot on goal. He decides that this was a clear probability for Evanilson.

The challenge by Saliba was careless so the referee is always going to award a free-kick in this area of the pitch, in line with the law, so it should be a red card.