Antonio Conte blames ‘this’ Arsenal player for David Luiz’s red card

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Chelsea boss Antonio Cone will certainly be having mixed reactions after the Blues’ 0-0 draw against Arsenal on Sunday. While the Chelsea manager will feel that he potentially lost out on two points but he will also be happy with the fact that he did not concede a late goal after David Luiz was sent off due to a challenge on Sead Kolasinac.

With three minutes left on the clock, David Luiz was given his marching orders after a clumsy studs up challenge on Arsenal’s Sead Kolasinac. To be brutally honest it was more of a hopeless lunge rather than a challenge. Luiz’s studs were showing as a result of which referee Michael Oliver had no other option but to issue a red card. But the debate surrounding the sending off is that just before the red card offence, Luiz was distracted by Alexis Sanchez and many are of the view that Sanchez had actually fouled the Chelsea defender.

And Antonio Conte has stressed on this exact point in his post-match conference. Speaking after the match Conte felt that Sanchez had indeed fouled David Luiz and the referee should have stopped the game then and there. But Michael Oliver did not see it as an offence and just moments later the Brazilian defender found himself walking towards the dugout.

Conte said, “David Luiz, you know very well that I don’t like to comment about the referee,

“I didn’t do this it in the past and I don’t do it in the present. The only thing I can tell is you need to see what happened before the tackle.”

“For sure, that was a foul [Sanchez on Luiz]. For sure. But, I repeat, the referee took this decision,” Conte added

“If he stopped the play before, it [David Luiz’s challenge] wouldn’t matter. I repeat, in this situation, a player is fouled in a continuing way – he continued to push him.”

The Chelsea boss will feel that his team was thrown on the back foot just as his players were going all out on attack during the final minutes. The red card certainly clipped Chelsea’s wings and they had to settle for a draw.