Mikel Arteta makes Riccardo Calafiori red card admission as Arsenal avoid 'clear' red card

Mikel Arteta has admitted he feared Riccardo Calafiori would be sent off against Leicester, after Foxes counterpart Steve Cooper said it was "beyond belief" the Arsenal defender avoided a second yellow card.

The Gunners looked to be cruising to a routine win over Leicester on Saturday, only to see the promoted side draw level through two James Justin strikes.

As both sides pushed for a winner late into the second half, Calafiori - already booked - caught Facundo Buonanotte with a late challenge. The Leicester man, though, was the one shown a yellow card after asking the referee to send the Arsenal defender off. Arsenal went on to win the game in injury time.

Speaking after the game, Arteta admitted his player had given the referee a decision to make. He told reporters: "I haven’t seen the action but I got really worried when that happened because he gave the foul, but I haven’t seen the replay."

Cooper was more forthright with his opinion, adding: "I don’t want to make the headlines around referees, because I’m trying to take responsibility for a team trying to do better in the Premier League, but it’s a clear foul on Jamie Vardy for the first goal and the left-back has to get sent off for a second yellow.

"There’s so much more we could say. The whole game knows, but I’m not going down that road today. We were very disappointed with a foul not being given on Vards for the first goal. And although we don’t come into games trying to get players sent off, why he hasn’t sent off Calafiori is a little bit beyond belief.

"Because of the spell we’re in and the spell that I’m in personally, I’m trying to not let referees’ decisions be the headline, as I’m trying to take responsibility for a team that needs to get better results. But we feel those were two poor decisions."