Mateo Kovacic was ‘extremely fortunate’ to avoid red card, says Howard Webb, who claims Michael Oliver is one of the world’s best referees

PGMOL head Howard Webb admits Mateo Kovacic was ‘extremely fortunate’ to avoid a red card during Manchester City’s defeat at Arsenal.

Although it ultimately didn’t stop the Gunners from coming out on top at the Emirates Stadium, the clash wasn’t short of controversy with the City midfielder being spared an early bath in the first half.

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Kovacic was given a yellow card for a robust challenge on Gunners captain Martin Odegaard, despite the pleas from the Arsenal faithful to send him off.

VAR looked at the incident but opted not to advise referee Michael Oliver to look at the incident again and Kovacic was subsequently spared.

It led to uproar from a number of fans, with many pointing to Chelsea defender Malo Gusto being sent off during their defeat at Aston Villa with a similar challenge.

“This is clearly a poor tackle and I’m confident if a red card had been given by Michael Oliver it would’ve been a very straightforward check complete,” Webb said on Match Officials: Mic’d Up on Sky Sports.

“But he doesn’t, he issues a yellow card. I think there’s a few differences [from the Gusto red], the player Kovacic comes into the tackle with the right leg, there’s some weight with the left leg as he lunges in.

“The right heel hits the ground and the contact is a little bit more to the side with a kind of an upright foot as opposed to a side on foot as we saw with Gusto.

“A few small differences that led the VAR to feel the on-field decision here of yellow card wasn’t clearly and obviously incorrect…”

A few minutes later Kovacic was penalised for a challenge on Declan Rice, however, Oliver decided not to brandish a second yellow for the Croatian.

Webb admits Kovacic was lucky to stay on the pitch but shed light on the thoughts an on-field referee experiences during such a high stakes game.

When asked if he felt Kovacic was fortunate to stay on after the tackle on Rice, Webb said: “I do.

“Obviously the VAR can’t get involved – second yellows are something the VAR is unable to get involved in.

“But yeah I think he was extremely fortunate to stay on the field of play.

“The referee, Michael Oliver, is one of the best referees in the world. He will no doubt review that, he doesn’t want to have a negative impact on the game by overreacting to something.

“Sometimes players will be on a yellow card and there will be pressure to show a second one, pressure will come from the players on the field. But that’s also true if you under-react, you have a negative impact on the game.

“So when I think he reflects on the game he’ll realise it should’ve been a second yellow card… having benefited on this particular decision, which was borderline.”