'Lucky boy' Mateo Kovačić the main topic of the Arsenal - City derby

A late Arsenal winner against Manchester City was the highlight of not so interesting game yesterday, as the Gunners finally defeated Pep Guardiola in the league for the first time since 2015, but that doesn’t mean that the game was without excitement. The greatest controversy, which would be even higher if Arsenal didn’t win, was about (another) referee mistake. Mike Oliver saw two horrid tackles from City’s Mateo Kovačić right in front of him and gave the Croatian international only one yellow card. The first tackle was on Odegaard and it was so bad that VAR had to intervene, but Oliver was firm and gave him only a yellow. He had a chance to redeem himself just five minutes later when the same player made almost the same tackle, this time on Declan Rice. A yellow card was the minimum required, but Oliver didn’t even do that, leaving Kovačić in the game, to the amazement of all fans on TV and pundits, even the former referees.

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“Oh, no. I think he’s lucky. I think he’s very lucky. I think he gets Declan Rice’s right foot. He does. What is he doing? I think he should be off. It’s madness from Kovacic. The first one was close. That one was just crazy” commented Gary Neville after the second Mateo’s tackle.

And former Arsenal player Theo Walcott was furious:

“As soon as it went to VAR, I thought, and I’ve seen it slowed down, red card straight away. You can see the way he gets really low on the ankle. For me, it’s a red card. I don’t think there’s any question. That’s not me putting my Arsenal head on, I genuinely think that’s endangering the player” said former Gunners forward after Kovačić’s first tackle.

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Of course, coach Mikel Arteta was happy that he won, so he simply replied ‘I’m not bothered’ when asked about those two tackles, while coach Pep Guardiola was a bit cheeky with his reply.

"I'm pretty sure that he was not sent off because he was not sent off. Because if he was sent off he would have been sent off. I'm pretty sure of that. But they decided nothing wrong had happened” said the Spaniard.

And finally, a word from a fellow referee – Kovačić had to be sent off.

“Mateo Kovacic is a very lucky boy and so is referee Michael Oliver, given Arsenal went on to win regardless of Manchester City keeping all 11 men on the pitch. Kovacic could have been dismissed not once, but twice. His first yellow could have been upgraded to red if VAR John Brooks had told Oliver to take a second look at his nasty tackle from behind on Martin Odegaard. But when Kovacic then caught Declan Rice late on the ankle, the City midfielder could easily have been shown a second yellow” said Mark Clattenburg in his column for Daily Mail.