Arsenal fans on social media were left seething after Dominik Szoboszlai went unpunished for kicking the ball away in Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest.
The Reds returned to Premier League action on Saturday afternoon keen to maintain their perfect record from before the international break. However, a sloppy performance in the final third, combined with a superb strike from Callum Hudson-Odoi, saw Arne Slot’s side fall 1-0 to Forest in what was their first defeat of the season.
In truth, Forest deserved to win. And it will have frustrated Slot more to see just how errant the Reds were with the ball in the final third. However, another fanbase who were left fuming following the result were Arsenal’s supporters.
Prior to the international break, Arsenal dropped points at home to Brighton, drawing 1-1 at the Emirates. The big talking point coming away from the game however was Declan Rice’s sending off.
The England international was given his marching orders by referee Chris Kavanagh for two yellows, the second of which saw Rice booked for kicking a ball away to prevent a restart. It was a silly error by Rice who was rightly sent off for stopping defender Joel Veltman from taking a quick free-kick.
And Arsenal fans saw Szoboszlai kick the ball away during Liverpool’s clash with Forest whilst on a yellow card already and not be punished by referee Michael Oliver, they took to social media to vent their frustrations at perceived double standards in refereeing.
“Szoboszlai, already on a yellow card, just did this and the referee had no choice but to send him off. Oh wait, ‘letter of the law’,” wrote one fan. Another added: “Why do they do this only to Arsenal.”
A third said: “I saw that as well and screamed yellow card immediately, this is the consistency we’re talking about if it’s arsenal it’s straight yellow card.” A fourth wrote: “Rules for me but not for thee.”
However, despite Arsenal fans frustrations, it was clear that Szoboszlai was not preventing Forest from taking a quick free-kick in injury-time with the visitors leading 1-0. In fact, Forest probably welcomed the Hungarian’s decision to boot the ball away. His decision actually hurt Liverpool more than helped with the Reds not gaining an advantage like Arsenal did when Rice foolishly kicked the ball away against Brighton.