Mikel Arteta has hit back at officials for booking him for leaving his technical area, claiming he has compiled evidence of other managers doing the same thing “36 times in 10 minutes” without punishment. The Arsenal manager is now one booking away from an automatic one-match touchline ban.
Arsenal Beat Everton 2-0
Arsenal enjoyed a relatively comfortable 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday afternoon, one that moved them level on points with Manchester City. There was no particularly aggressive edge to the match but seven yellow cards were still shown, with three of those going to those on the touchline.
Both Arteta and David Moyes were booked, as was Arteta’s assistant Gabriel Heinze late in the match. The yellow card shown to Arteta appeared to be for him stepping out of his area too many times.
Arteta's Response
As the referee walked over, Arteta quickly retreated to his dugout and looked around bemused once Tony Harrington eventually caught up with him. That was the second booking shown to the Spaniard this season, with Arteta also booked away at Sunderland for the same reason.
A third yellow card would result in a touchline ban but the Arsenal manager insisted there are other managers far more culpable than he is.
“I do have to be careful,” Arteta said. “I’m going to put sensors there. There are managers that have the record in the league, 36 times in 10 minutes leaving the touchline, no yellows. So I'm clipping all of that. I have a massive storage of images. So if somebody is going to say [anything], I'm not the record yet, somebody else has the record. Then it's 36 yellow cards in 10 minutes for the manager. I don't know where we're going to be.”
