During stoppage time in the first-half of Arsenal’s clash against Leicester last night, Shkodran Mustafi needed a seeing to after Jamie Vardy’s boot slashed right across the defender’s face.
The pair were duelling for the ball and ended up both being on the floor, Vardy’s leg span out of control and kicked across Mustafi’s face as the duo came crashing down.
Vardy avoided any punishment for the incident, with it deemed that this was not intentional, some Arsenal fans aren’t as convinced though.
To make this moment even more controversial, Vardy scored Leicester’s equaliser not long after Arsenal ace Eddie Nketiah was sent off for unintended dangerous play.
Take a look at the incident which has left Mustafi with a couple of cuts below:
Vardy checks where Mustafi is and swings his leg – this is criminal pic.twitter.com/mYrw5i1s3F
— Link Up Arsenal (@LinkUpArsenal) July 7, 2020
Pictures from Sky Sports and Universo.
Here’s what Mustafi’s face looked like after the kick out.
Take a look at what some Arsenal fans made of the incident below:
Didn’t notice Vardy’s “look” on last night’s replay. I originally thought it was just clumsy aftermath, which is fair enough in my book. Looking at it now, looks intended.
— max (@max_zammon) July 8, 2020
It gets worse every time I watch it. @FA ? What was he swinging his leg for??
— Michael Woodhall (@Gunnerwood86) July 7, 2020
Diabolical challenge. ?
— John Matthews (@UNDERCOVER_JM) July 8, 2020
This is so much more malicious than the Nketiah tackle and This angle clearly shows it was deliberate.
— danlukic (@danluca25) July 8, 2020
That was so deliberate! He knew what he was doing spinning his leg around like that!
— Mr D ? (@UUdogan) July 7, 2020
He missed him with the elbow so he had to go in with the leg.
— jjg (@jjgafc) July 8, 2020
If you dont think he kicked him on purpose you are biased or stupid.
— Steffen Kolbjørnsen (@AFCNORWAY) July 8, 2020
It’s hard not to sympathise with some Arsenal supporters who think they’re on the wrong end of some double standards by the officials.
The replays of the Vardy and Mustafi incident certainly appear to show that the forward looked across before his leg swung across the defender’s face, was this more than just a natural reflex though?
If Nketiah saw red for his challenge, surely Vardy must’ve for this – regardless of whether it was intentional or not.
The Gunners went on to draw the game in a potentially massive blow to their hopes of qualifying for European football this season.