Diego Carlos escapes red card despite appearing to ELBOW Arsenal's Eddie Nketiah in Aston Villa's 1-0 win…with referee and VAR deciding challenge was only worthy of a booking

11 months ago 50

Diego Carlos lucky not to receive a red card for elbow on Arsenal's Eddie Nketiah
Aston Villa beat Arsenal 1-0 thanks to early John McGinn goal at Villa Park
It will do Arsenal no harm at all to have Arteta out of sight at Villa Park

By Ash Rose For Mailonline

Published: 22:28 GMT, 9 December 2023 | Updated: 22:56 GMT, 9 December 2023

Aston Villa's Diego Carlos was lucky escape a possible red card after appearing to elbow Eddie Nketiah during the Villains win over Arsenal.

John McGinn netted a seventh-minute winner as Aston Villa made it 15 home wins in a row in victory over the Gunners.

A win that sees Unai Emery's men go within one point of their opponents in the Premier League's top four.

Yet, they should count themselves lucky they didn't finish the game with ten men, after the off-the-ball incident involving the Brazilian defender.

Late in the second half, Nketiah attempted to run behind the centre-back, but Carlos flung his elbow in the direction of the England striker, causing him to fall to the ground.

Diego Carlos lucky to escape a red card following an elbow to Arsenal's Eddie Nketiah

The Brazilian stayed on the pitch and was able to celebrate the club's 1-0 win over the Gunners

The challenge was seen by referee Jarred Gillett, but deemed the punishment to be just a yellow card and booked Carlos as well as awarding the Gunners a free-kick.

Surprisingly, VAR then did not advise Gillett to take another look at the incident amid a possible case for upgrading the card to a sending off offence.

It was another slice of frustration on a difficult night for Mikel Arteta's side, who felt they could also have had a penalty after Gabriel Jesus was taken down in the box by Douglas Luiz.

The Gunners also had a late equaliser ruled out, when VAR chalked Kai Havertz's goal off after it appeared the German was guilty of handball in the build-up to the goal.

John McGinn celebrates scoring the early winner that secured a record 15th home win in a row

Arsenal's Kai Havertz (left) was deeemd to have handled the ball in the box before scoring

Arteta's men squandered several other chances to draw the game level, but couldn't find a breakthrough as Villa clung on to their club record 15th consecutive home win.

It caps off a statement-making week for Emery's Villa, who have beaten both of last season's top two, following their win over Manchester City in midweek.

The defeat means Arsenal drop from top spot in the Premier League and replaced by Liverpool, who managed a late win over Crystal Palace in Saturday's early kick-off.