The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel has unanimously ruled that Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino should have been sent off for a second bookable offense during the Gunners’ 4-1 victory over Aston Villa on December 30.
Following a 5-0 vote, the panel concluded that Merino’s 58th-minute pull on Morgan Rogers “clearly stopped a promising attack by pulling the arm of Rogers, and a second caution should have been awarded.”
While referee Darren England failed to issue the card and VAR was unable to intervene on a second-yellow incident, former official Mark Halsey noted that the holding offense was a “nailed on 2nd [yellow card]” and argued that “referee’s have lost the art of managing these players.”
Although Mikel Arteta substituted the Spaniard shortly after the incident to avoid a dismissal, the retrospective ruling confirms that Villa was denied a significant numerical advantage while trailing 2-0.