22 August 2023 , 06:02
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Arsenal fan Piers Morgan has called for an immediate change to VAR rules following Takehiro Tomiyasu's red card against Crystal Palace.
The defender was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in the space of just seven minutes. Tomiyasu was initially booked for time-wasting while taking a throw-in, before getting shown a second yellow minutes later for a foul on Jordan Ayew.
Contact was minimal for the foul on Ayew and Morgan branded the sending off "pathetic", before questioning why VAR does not review incidents which lead to a player being shown a second yellow card. "That's a pathetic red card," he fumed on social media.
"Tomiyasu barely touched him. And why the hell doesn't VAR look at 2nd yellow offences? So dumb."
Current Premier League rules state that "VAR will not intervene for an incident where a second yellow card leads to a red card, unless the VAR believes the second yellow card should be upgraded to a red."
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Despite Tomiyasu's sending off, Arsenal were still able to beat Palace 1-0 thanks to a penalty from captain Martin Odegaard. And when the idea of VAR being able to intervene and look at second yellow card offences was put to Gunners boss Mikel Arteta, he was unconvinced.
"I don't know if that's the solution," he said. "The decision is made. We're not going to change it. We adapted to it.
"Obviously it made the game much tougher and normally you're going to drop points when you play 30 minutes down to 10 in this league.
Takehiro Tomiyasu was sent off against Crystal Palace (Getty Images)"To survive the way we did is not something that usually happens. But we're so happy that we overcame that big hurdle." Arteta was also asked about Tomiyasu's first booking for time-wasting and explained that all he wants to see is consistency in how the rules are applied.
"I prefer not to make comments because for me it's so obvious," he said. "This is the standards. I don't know how long it was. I think it was eight seconds. We might have to play with a stopwatch.
"It's OK, we won the game, I'm happy."
Former Chelsea midfielder Jason Cundy, meanwhile, told talkSPORT : "The Tomiyasu yellow card is an absolute disgrace - the second yellow. It's an absolute disgrace. Jordan Ayew goes down looking for it.
"He doesn't even touch him! I don't think that Arsenal can actually appeal that as it was a second yellow. If there is any common sense, that yellow card should be overturned - if there's any common sense in the game."