Cody Drameh had an eventful Leeds United debut against Arsenal last night and could have been sent off if Mikel Arteta’s protestations were successful.
In one moment in the game, Drameh brought down Gabriel Martinelli, who wasn’t making life easy for him early on.
TalkSport commentator Jim Proudfoot watched Arteta’s reaction and revealed that the Gunners’ boss was furious.
Arteta would then protest to the fourth official with the Spanish manager claiming that Drameh’s foul was deliberate.
Proudfoot said as quoted by HITC: “Martinelli has ended up on the deck holding his face. Arteta is furious. Leeds put the ball out of play so any treatment can be received. And Mikel Arteta clearly indicating to the fourth official that he felt it was a deliberate elbow.”
Just Arsenal opinion
Managers protest all the time and Arteta’s first duty on that pitch is to watch his players.
He might not be trying to get Drameh sent off for the foul but wants the official to know exactly what happened and to warn the Leeds United man of his conduct.
Meanwhile, Martinelli hasn’t been getting enough chances on the Arsenal team, but his performance in that match may have impressed Arteta enough to hand him some minutes in the Premier League in the next few matches.
But the Brazilian needs to add more goals to his game to make it easier for the manager to pick him.
No mention of the fact Martinelli went down clutching his face in a completely different position to where he got “hit”. SMH.
Arteta intimating to the 4th official with elbow swinging gestures, when clearly the lad’s arm was outstretched and the back of his forearm ‘may’ have touched his face, but not where he was claiming and not enough to make him go down! Hence why the referee gave the ball back to Leeds, no foul!