Referee Howard Webb awarded Arsenal’s Emmanuel Adebayor a red card after a 2nd half collision with Alvaro Arbeloa in the Gunners’ 1-1 draw with Liverpool earlier today. Arsene Wenger predictably called the decision”a joke”, to which his Togolese striker concurred. From the Daily Mail’s Simon Cass :
‘The defender threw himself on the floor as if I put a knife in him,’ insisted Adebayor who will now miss the Boxing Day clash against Aston Villa.
‘Of course I’m annoyed. We’re all here to play and if you win or lose you have to do it with 11. I can’t say he cheated, but what he did wasn’t fair play at all.
‘I hope when the referee goes home and watches it on the TV, he will see it was a foul but I didn’t deserve a card. It was a mistake from him.
‘He said it was for the leg but if I don’t put my body in there I would never score a goal in this league. We have to protect the ball, which is normal, and that’s what I tried to do.”
If you happen to catch said highlights on FSC or Setanta tonight, it’s pretty hard to sympathize.