Monday, April 22

Arsenal Appeal Over Giroud Red Card

Arsenal today appealed against France striker Olivier Giroud’s dismissal during Saturday’s 1-0 win against Fulham.

Giroud was sent off by referee Andre Marriner in the 90th minute at Craven Cottage after lunging into a challenge on Fulham’s Stanislav Manolev.

The former Montpellier star faces a three-match ban, which would be a significant blow to Arsenal’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League, so the Gunners have opted to appeal.

“We have lodged an appeal to the Football Association for the wrongful dismissal of Olivier Giroud against Fulham,” read a statement on Arsenal’s official website.

“An FA regulatory commission will hear the claim and make a verdict on Tuesday afternoon.”
Replays showed that Giroud, who has scored 17 goals for Arsenal this season, made contact with the ball during the tackle.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger hinted after the win, which lifted the Gunners to third in the Premier League, that an appeal would be made.

“Giroud told me he did slip and went a bit over the ball,” Wenger said. “Knowing that Steve Sidwell had been sent off, when the referee went to see him, we knew it would be a red card.''

“We will have to deal with that now because he will miss three games and that is not easy for us to cope with.

“Nobody would say Giroud is a dirty player, it is purely accidental, but sometimes accidental can be dangerous.

No comments:

Post a Comment