Chris Kavanagh made a serious error during Arsenal 2-2 Aston Villa which no one noticed - opinion
Today at 07:25 AM
The decision of whether to award Arsenal a winner against Aston Villa when the ball appeared to strike Kai Havertz's arm wasn't the only contentious moment for Chris Kavanagh to contend with in the 2-2 draw at the Emirates.
VAR correctly overturned that decision, even if it did appear that the Arsenal attacker was slightly hard done by judging by one replay angle.
Gary Lineker thought Havertz made contact with his hand, a call that Mikel Arteta also wasn't too eager to debate.
The Arsenal manager was more worried about the chances his side had already missed to win the game, ones that continued to come after Villa's two-goal comeback.
Arsenal fans have often felt aggrieved by referee and VAR decisions this season, and whilst it didn't necessarily affect the result, Kavanagh might have missed a significant decision just before the full-time whistle.
Chris Kavanagh failed to spot Boubacar Kamara red card for kicking the ball away
Earlier this season, Kavanagh was in the spotlight after Declan Rice receieved a second yellow card against Brighton & Hove Albion.
The referee concluded that he had 'no choice' but to reprimand Rice with another yellow after he kicked the ball away, preventing Brighton from taking their free-kick.
In the 97th minute of Arsenal's 2-2 draw with Villa, Kavanagh was then in a very similar position at the Emirates Stadium.
The ref awarded the home side a free-kick just inside their own half and Boubacar Kamara, who had already received a yellow card in the 78th minute, kicked the ball away to the right of three Arsenal players who were ready to take it quickly.
Kavanagh was staring directly at the incident and the Arsenal players in close proximity were up in arms, with Mikel Merino in particular protesting to the referee.
The incident was very similar to Rice's back in September, yet on this occasion Kamara wasn't sent off, much to the displeasure of the Arsenal players close by.
Declan Rice received a red card for similar incident by Chris Kavanagh
In truth, very few football fans will want to see a red card issued for such a moment, but those same fans will want consistency.
If Kavanagh deemed Rice's interference with Brighton's free-kick to be worth a yellow card, then Kamara should have faced the same fate.
Perhaps the time on the clock was a big factor, Arsenal still wanted to get on with the game quickly in pursuit of a winner in added time.
And as stated, it seems unnecessary to send Kamara off at that point of the game, who was excellent at the Emirates throughout.
But referees across the Premier League should be striving for consistency, especially the same referee on the same ground in a very similar situation.
Kavanagh judged the game well otherwise, but Arsenal have every right to feel incensed about such a decision, even if it was too late to impact the result.
