Jamie Redknapp admitted he was confused by the complaints Mikel Arteta made about the refereeing decisions in his post-match interview on Thursday.
Tottenham emerged comfortable 3-0 winners against their North London rivals after the Gunners seemingly imploded over the course of a ten-minute spell midway into the first half.
Referee Paul Tierney pointed to the spot after Cedric Soares pushed Son Heung-min just as the Spurs forward was jumping to get on the end of Dejan Kulusevski’s cross, with Harry Kane making no mistake from the resulting penalty.
Just minutes later, Rob Holding, who had already received a yellow for his persistent fouling of Son, blocked off the South Korean’s run with a forearm to his face, which left Tierney with no choice but to give the Arsenal man his marching orders.
Arteta was certainly not pleased with the decisions, with the Spaniard insisting in his post-match interview that he would be suspended if he voiced his true feelings and adding that “a beautiful game was destroyed” by the referee (Sky Sports).
Reacting to Arteta’s comments, Redknapp told Sky Sports: “I genuinely don’t understand where he’s coming from.
“What Rob Holding did, he could’ve got booked earlier, I don’t see where he’s coming from. For the penalty, he should be saying to his right-back: ‘What are you doing?'”
Spurs Web Opinion
Arteta surely cannot think that the sending off was harsh if he watched Holding’s fouls back. I suspect the Arsenal boss knows that the decisions were correct but is simply protecting his players and ensuring that their confidence is not destroyed ahead of a crucial game against Newcastle.
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