GARY NEVILLE has claimed that Reece James was ‘done’ by Kieran Tierney over Arsenal’s penalty in their 3-1 win over Chelsea.
Alexandre Lacazette’s spot-kick set the Gunners on their way to a stunning victory over their London rivals to ease their relegation fears.
Gary Neville has claimed Reece James was played by Kieran TierneyCredit: Sky Sports
Granit Xhaka whipped home a free-kick shortly after before Bukayo Saka’s second-half cross-cum-shot looped over Edouard Mendy.
Yet the damage started when James – starting in place of Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta – conceded a penalty after fouling Tierney.
The England starlet was spun by his Scottish counterpart and reacted by bringing him down although replays showed contact was minimal.
VAR did review referee Michael Oliver’s decision but did not intervene and Lacazette duly sent Mendy the wrong way from the spot.
Reece James has been done and to be fair, he should never have made the challenge
Gary Neville
And Manchester United legend Neville claimed on commentary that James should never have been in a position to concede the foul.
He told Sky Sports: “Reece James has been done and to be fair, he should never have made the challenge.
“But he’s been played by Tierney whose played well down that left-hand side.”
He later added: “Arsenal had one of the very best, Robert Pires brought it to the Premier League. He was a master at it – and it was very clever from Tierney.”
Sky Sports pundits Alex Scott agreed during the half-time coverage that James had made the ref’s decision easy.
The Arsenal legend said: “Once you get skipped by as a full-back like that you almost have to let your ego go
“You’ve been beaten, don’t make the decision easy. You’re making the decision easy for the ref. Once you’ve been skipped by do your best to make no contact at all.”
Tierney himself added: “I felt contact and I went down but I haven’t seen it back.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
