The Gunners were reduced to 10 men late on against Burnley (Pictures: beIN / Reuters)
Mikel Arteta says he has no complaints about Fabio Vieira’s red card in Arsenal’s 3-1 victory over Burnley while he is hopeful Martin Odegaard will return after the international break.
The north Londoners dominated proceedings at the Emirates on Saturday and took the lead in first-half injury time when Leandro Trossard put his body on the line to tap home from close range after a looping header from Bukayo Saka.
Burnley managed to equalise against the run of play through Josh Brownhill but just three minutes later Arsenal retook the lead when William Saliba bullied the opposition defence and headed home a corner from practically under the crossbar.
The victory was sealed in the 74th minute when Oleksandr Zinchenko netted his first goal at the Emirates, pulling off an acrobatic scissor-kick volley that flew into the top corner.
But the win was sullied a little late on when Vieira was given his marching orders for a dangerous tackle on Brownhill; although he did not make significant contact with the Burnley midfielder, Vieira’s foot was knee-high and it was a deserved red card.
Arteta, who launched into a furious tirade against the officials last week, had no complaints this time around and appeared to reference the debate his previous outburst had created.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, the Spaniard said of Vieira’s dismissal: ‘With the red card, yes, thank you for asking me, VAR was right, the referee was right.
‘Really good decision, really positive from Mikel to speak about that. Yeah, good decision.’
Michael Oliver brandished a red card for Vieira’s challenge (Picture: PA)
Vieira will miss the next three matches through suspension, exacerbating Arsenal’s issues in midfield with Thomas Partey out until the new year and Martin Odegaard unavailable once again against Burnley.
Asked for an update on his skipper, Arteta told beIN SPORTS: ‘In the last 24 hours as well we lost Ben White and we lost Cedric [Soares] as well, so we were really short today.
‘With Martin, again he tried his best to be available but it wasn’t possible. The same with Gabi, Gabriel Jesus. Yeah, we need players back because at the moment we are really struggling.’
Arsenal moved level on points with Manchester City (Picture: Getty)
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At his post-match press conference, Arteta said he expected Odegaard to return after the international break but was in the dark over whether he would play for Norway: ‘I’m going to have a meeting now with the medical department to understand everybody’s situation.
‘I think he’s going to be back after the international break, but I don’t know exactly what is the decision and the communication at the moment.’
Jorginho was also forced off against Burnley, with Arteta saying of the Italian: ‘Well I haven’t checked him, but for him to come off obviously it was a certain cut that he had and they could not stitch it there. Again, the way he performed, the way he competed, outstanding. He’s a really important player for me.’
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The Gunners were reduced to 10 men late on against Burnley.