PAUL MERSON was left fuming after Jeremy Doku escaped punishment for kicking the ball away in Man City’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal — unlike Leandro Trossard.
Arsenal’s Belgian maestro was given his marching orders with his side 2-1 up against Manchester City at the Etihad.
Mikel Arteta’s visitors had only just gone ahead thanks to a header from Gabriel Magalhaes.
But things quickly turned sour for the Gunners as Trossard was shown a second yellow for kicking the ball away.
Michael Oliver had no hesitation in booking Trossard before reaching for the red.
And it forced Arsenal into a bus-parking job they once scoffed at in an attempt to grind out all three points.
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However, former Gunners star Merson feels Man City star Doku should also have been punished earlier in the game.
The winger appeared to kick the ball away when Arsenal won a free-kick.
But he claimed he was simply passing the ball to Declan Rice, who himself was sent off for kicking the ball away against Brighton this season.
The ball went nowhere near Rice though.
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But Olivier took Doku’s side and agreed it had been an honest attempt to make a pass.
This left Merson unimpressed though, who blasted the official for not taking similar action.
Merson said: “If he (Doku) can’t play it to Rice he shouldn’t be playing football.
“He’s kicking the ball away in my opinion. Rice is there, and he’s kicked it to there.
“We’ve got to use a bit of common sense here otherwise we’ll just be sending people off left, right and centre.
“You’ve got to remember there’s 40, 50,000 people in the crowd as well.”
A thrilling game at the Etihad saw City take a 9th minute lead through Erling Haaland.
But the champs suffered an injury blow as key man Rodri was forced off the field.
And Arsenal soon pulled themselves back on level terms through a scorcher from Riccardo Calafiori, with Pep Guardiola kicking his chair in fury.
The Gunners then went ahead thanks to Gabriel just before half-time.
But the first half excitement wasn’t over yet as Trossard was sent for an early bath before Kyle Walker blasted Oliver in the tunnel for a previous questionable decision.
Arsenal then replaced Bukayo Saka with Ben White at the break, changing their shape to a 5-4-0.
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City had an eye-watering 25 shots to Arsenal’s 0 in the second half.
And the pressure eventually told as John Stones fired in a dramatic 98th minute equaliser to steal a point.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
