Arsenal expected to appeal Eddie Nketiah’s red card vs Leicester City

Arsenal have reportedly launched an appeal after young forward Eddie Nketiah was shown a red card versus Leicester City, last night.

The 21-year-old was brought on for the Gunners just after the 70th minute but was sent off minutes later following a mistimed challenge on Leicester defender James Justin.

The forward was initially shown a yellow card by referee Chris Kavanagh after he accidentally caught the defender on his knee.

However, following a lengthy VAR review of the incident, Kavanagh upgraded his decision to a red card. Due to this, Nketiah will miss Arsenal’s next three fixtures versus Tottenham and Liverpool in the league as well as Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final.

According to the Daily Mail, Arsenal has already started their appeal against the referee’s decision and could even get a result before Sunday’s North London derby.

It’s believed the club is hoping for the punishment to be overruled on the grounds of wrongful dismissal or for Nketiah’s ban to be reduced due to excessive punishment.

Speaking to the media following the 1-1 draw, head coach Mikel Arteta defended the 21-year-old.

“With the red card decision, he [Nketiah] doesn’t see the player and you have to know that he is a young kid,” he said. “But if that is a red card then Leicester have to play with 10 men after 42 minutes. That has to be a red card as well.”

The incident Arteta is refereeing to occurred late in the first-half after Leicester forward Jamie Vardy was seen striking Shkodran Mustafi in the face with his boot as he was falling to the floor.

Arteta added: “If we review incidents of that type, we review them all. It has to be something equal for everybody because it changes the game completely. If Eddie is a red card, then for sure the other one is a red card.”