Burnley interim manager Mike Jackson said Kai Havertz should been sent off for a “dangerous” challenge during Arsenal‘s 1-0 win at the Emirates — a victory which left the Gunners within one win of the Premier League title.
Germany forward Havertz scored the only goal of the game with a first-half header to seal victory and ensure that Arsenal will win a first league championship since 2004 if they beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
Arsenal would also be crowned champions if Manchester City fail to win at Bournemouth on Tuesday.
But the Gunners could have ended the game with 10 players, and lost Havertz to suspension for the Palace game, had the former Chelsea player been dismissed by referee Paul Tierney for a 69th minute challenge that caught Burnley’s Lesley Ugochukwu on the back of his calf.
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Despite the incident being reviewed by the VAR team, Tierney was not sent to the pitchside monitor and Jackson said it was a mistake by the officials.
“I don’t like seeing people sent off, but I have watched it back and the way the game is refereed today, I think it’s a red card, [for Havertz],” Jackson told reporters. “When you watch it frame-by-frame, you must be able to see that from a number of angles.
“It’s dangerous, it’s [a challenge that is] leaving the floor. It was a cynical foul to stop play in the first place, so I’m disappointed because, with 20 minutes to go, it could have changed the game — we are still in the game. We stayed in the game as long as we could.
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“He [Havertz] could have injured him [Ugochukwu] as well. They’re big decisions that sometimes we don’t get, and we haven’t got throughout the season.”
Arsenal’s winning goal once again came from a set piece and Jackson said his team should have stopped the Havertz goal.
“We know they’re a threat from set pieces,” he said. “Usually somebody doesn’t track their man, but that’s the fine detail that separates the top teams in the game.”
