SEEING RED Arsenal vs Everton is Prem’s feistiest fixture… Mikel Arteta’s physical Gunners remind me of Toffees under David Moyes
Ex-ref reveals what Arteta was like on the pitch as a player
Posted Saturday, December 14, 2024 by Thesun.co.uk
ARSENAL and Everton are top of the Prem red card charts because they have always liked physical players who never ducked out of contact.
Since the Premier League’s launch in 1992, the Toffees have 108 reds and the Gunners 107 — including three this term — 14 more than third-placed Newcastle.
Mark Halsey was not on Sol Campbell's Christmas card list after sending him off a few times
Goodison Park fans want blood-and-thunder tackles in end-to-end matches.
They were so hostile towards opponents and referees — although I never had a problem at Everton — because they knew the importance of cranking up pressure.
While matches between Arsenal and Everton have not historically been the dirtiest, I landed a feisty clash between them in 2003 where I had to issue TWO red cards — to Sol Campbell and Li Tie — at Highbury.
It was the second time I sent off Sol in the space of five months.
The first was for elbowing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in April of the 2002-03 season during a crunch title game with Manchester United which ended 2-2.
Sol brought his arm back, and right in front of my assistant Nigel Miller, who said the contact was deliberate.
He appealed his dismissal but did not win.
Arsene Wenger’s assistant Pat Rice and Sol came into the Highbury dressing room but I told them what I saw was a deliberate elbow. We agreed to disagree.
It meant Sol missed the FA Cup final in 2003 due to a four-game ban.
His absence did not cost Wenger’s team as they beat Southampton 1-0 in Cardiff, although United won the league.
I refereed Arsenal v Everton at Highbury on the opening day of the following season — which the Gunners won as Invincibles — and sent off Sol again.
He was being investigated by the FA at the time after kicking Manchester United’s Eric Djemba-Djemba in the Community Shield.
I said during the game that we could not go through it without speaking to each other… he did not reply.
After 25 minutes, Everton’s Thomas Gravesen was going through on goal and Sol brought him down and it was a clear denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
He knew a red was coming and just walked off — so he did not say a word to me that day. Safe to say, I wasn’t on his Christmas card list that year.
I also sent off Li Tie later for a second yellow. It is one of just three Prem fixtures between the clubs in which two players have been sent off.
Patrick Vieira and Duncan Ferguson are perhaps unsurprisingly in the top three players from the two clubs for red cards in the Premier League — with eight each.
Patrick was tough to referee because no quarter was taken as an incredibly tough-tackling midfielder.
Big Dunc was a traditional No 9 — he would take it and give it. I had to keep talking to him to keep him on side.
Managers like David Moyes, who I got on well with, loved the physicality of players like Big Dunc.
I remember sending off Toffees defender Joseph Yobo in a 2-1 defeat at Newcastle before Alan Shearer’s stunner.
David rang me up — as you could when Keith Hackett was in charge — a few days later to admit I had to send off Yobo.
He wanted that intensity to make Everton a fortress, which it was.
It was always very tough to referee and you had to stay switched on.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was one of his players at Everton. He was a moaner on the pitch but I got on well with him.
You can argue some of the red cards Arsenal have received under Mikel have been dubious but the passion from the manager goes into the players.
The physicality of this Gunners team reminds me of both that Everton side under Moyes and 2003-era Arsenal team featuring Campbell.
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