Arsenal picked up a 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby on Sunday.
The Gunners were lucky to finish the game with 11 players on the pitch. Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber could have easily been sent off in the first half.
The Netherlands international picked up his first booking of the game in the 35th minute after a rash tackle on Tottenham’s Pedro Porro.
Timber then went on to grab Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario’s shirt during an altercation, but escaped a booking. Former Arsenal winger Freddie Ljungberg believes that the 23-year-old should have been sent off for his reaction towards the Tottenham goalkeeper, and Arsenal were lucky to have him on the pitch.
“There he’s lucky not to get two yellow cards. It’s clear that he grabs Vicario’s shirt,” he said to Aftonbladet via SportWitness.
A red card for Timber could have changed the whole complexion of the game and it could have handed Tottenham a huge advantage. Arsenal scored the winning goal of the game in the second half and a sending off could have resulted in a favourable outcome for Tottenham.
Spurs will certainly be disappointed with the decision from the officials, especially in a game of this magnitude. The defeat against Arsenal will have hurt them, and it remains to be seen whether they can bounce back strongly in the coming weeks.
They struggled to create too many opportunities against Arsenal and they were not clinical enough either. They will have to improve in those departments in order to do well this season.
