Referee Andre Marriner has issued an abject apology after he sent off the wrong player in Arsenal’s humiliating 6-0 defeat by Chelsea, which appeared to end the north London club’s title hopes.
The
dreadful error from one of the Premier League’s top referees saw
Marriner finally dismiss Arsenal left-back Kieran Gibbs on 17 minutes,
mistaking him for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who had dived to tip Eden
Hazard’s shot away with his hand.
The error was compounded by the fact that
Oxlade-Chamberlain told the referee that he had committed the offence
and that Hazard’s shot appeared to be going wide, so the referee could
have deemed it a yellow card, judging that it was not an obvious
goalscoring opportunity
Admission: Oxlade-Chamberlain even approached Marriner to tell him it was he who handled the ball
Not needed: The handball was intentional but not necessary, with the ball going wide
The wrong man: Oxlade-Chamberlain protests with the referee, telling him 'It was me'
RED OR NOT?
FIFA laws of the game 2013-14: 'A player is sent off if he prevents a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball.
'The punishment arises not from the
act of the player deliberately handling the ball but from the
unacceptable and unfair intervention that prevented a goal being
scored.'
Marriner, a FIFA referee who took charge
of last year’s FA Cup final, appeared confused as he made the decision,
consulting with his assistants.
But even after Oxlade-Chamberlain
admitted to him that it was he who had handled the ball, he stuck by his
decision to send off Gibbs.
Marriner is likely to be dropped from at least the next round of Premier League games after the error.
A statement issued by the Professional
Game Match Officials Limited said: ‘Andre is an experienced referee and
is obviously disappointed that an error of mistaken identity was made in
this case.
‘Incidents of mistaken identity are very
rare and are often the result of a number of different technical
factors. While this was a difficult decision, Andre is disappointed that
he failed to identify the correct player.
‘He expressed his disappointment to Arsenal when he was made aware of the issue
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