Arsenal star Kai Havertz was fortunate not to have been shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge during his side’s clash with Newcastle. The midfielder jumped into a crunching tackle on Sean Longstaff but VAR agreed with the on-field decision that the foul only justified a yellow tackle.
Tempers threatened to boil over on numerous occasions during the opening half an hour at St James’ Park, with both clubs desperate to lay down a marker and secure all three points. Havertz’s rash tackle on Longstaff then saw the two outfits clash on the touchline, leaving Gary Neville stunned whilst on commentary duty for Sky Sports.
The ex-Chelsea midfielder flew into his tackle on Longstaff deep in the Newcastle half, prompting players from both clubs to race to the scene. Neville said: “Well what is he doing? Arsenal have complete control of the game, now it’s all boiling over and that is a stupid, stupid challenge. I think it was dangerous rather than reckless.”
However, after the aftermath unfolded, Neville was forced to backtrack on his word due to the protests from Newcastle players that saw referee Stuart Atwell dish out three yellow cards. Anthony Gordon was booked due to his role to play in the post-tackle quarrelling, with Longstaff then shown a yellow card for questioning why Havertz was not given a red card.
Magpies defender Fabian Schar was furious that his teammate was booked for his protests, which then led to the Switzerland international completing the hat-trick of yellow cards.
Neville joked: “To be fair to him, he’s managed to get three Newcastle players booked here, hasn’t he? Gordon there, now Longstaff and then Schar – I take it all back, he’s actually done quite well there Havertz! Maybe he should do that more often!”
Former Liverpool star Jamie Carragher was also in agreement with Neville and felt that Havertz’s challenge was foolish – though the pundit was quick to agree with the referee and felt that dismissing the German international would have been a harsh call. He explained: “It’s a stupid challenge from Havertz but the decision was right, it was a yellow card.
“You’ve got Newcastle players running over but they haven’t even seen the challenge really, they’re too far away to really see it. I don’t like this, everyone running over, crowding around the referee and trying to get another player sent off. It was daft from Havertz.”
