BREAKING: FIFA finally reveals Erling Haaland Punishment for His wayward Attitude against Arsenal,Player set to miss Five premier league matches and a well written apology to Arteta – congratulations Arsenal fans
BREAKING: FIFA finally reveals Erling Haaland Punishment for His wayward Attitude against Arsenal,Player set to miss Five premier league matches and a well written apology to Arteta – congratulations Arsenal fans
Is it just Erling Haaland’s world and we’re all just living in it? After Arsenal’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Manchester City it could certainly look like that.
Having been seconds away from the narrative being of a team ready to challenge Pep Guardiola more than ever, City’s last equaliser at the Etihad Stadium saw tensions boil over once more on an afternoon that simmered from the start. As soon as Kai Havertz ran into Rodri after kick-off, it couldn’t be any other way.
Haaland looked like he would once more run through Arsenal, as he did in the 2022/23 late-season title battle, but resilience showed for Mikel Arteta as a brilliant first-half comeback had them heading into the break ahead. Leandro Trossard’s red card turned the dynamic though.
It took City all of 52 minutes to capitalise and find their goal though, sparking jubilant scenes at the Etihad Stadium. For Haaland, who is no stranger to controversy and stealing the spotlight at this ground, the moment got to him.
Celebrating, he picked up the ball and threw it at Gabriel Magalhaes’ head. The Brazilian, who had put Arsenal a goal up earlier in the game, had his shirt covering his face in anguish after conceding and didn’t offer the sort of response that might have been expected.
Michael Oliver didn’t see the incident but VAR did, with the officials at Stockley Park ruling that no action was necessary. Haaland then escalated matters more when he bundled over Thomas Partey following the restart.
Gabriel came to the defence of his teammate and at full-time there was a confrontation between a host of Gunners players and their Norwegian opponent. Taking things into his own hands, Haaland swore at Gabriel Jesus, mocked Arteta, and appeared to throw shade at debutant Myles Lewis-Skelley.
It was only earlier this year that he also found himself face-to-face with Gabriel after the 0-0 draw that was more attrition than entertainment. Here, football.london writers debate whether or not Haaland should be punished regardless.
Tom Coley
Haaland did a lot on Sunday (although not very much to trouble the Arsenal defence in the second half) but none of it was worthy of a red card. There is also nothing here that needs punishing retrospectively, or that can be anyway
A bit of needle and fire is what these games demand. It was disrespectful and spur of the moment, but not harmful or ultimately that meaningful. Haaland makes the ground his own. It was only in the previous meeting in March that Arsenal’s man stood over Haaland and shouted in his face, an act not too dissimilar.
If we want the stakes to be high in matches like this between genuine title rivals then the dial has to be turned up a bit. Whether that is right given what Leandro Trossard was sent off for is another matter.
Kieran Horn
Haaland was at the centre of absolutely everything on Sunday afternoon and could’ve quite easily been shown a red card for an accumulation of incidents. For his early foul on William Saliba, he was perhaps lucky to avoid a yellow card and players have been sent off for doing less than his reaction to the late equaliser.
It was his conduct after the final whistle though that many may feel is worthy of a suspension or fine. Haaland was involved in two separate arguments on the pitch with one of those a brawl, however he should not really face any major punishment.
There was clearly no sign of violent conduct or dissent to officials that would be deemed worthy of such sanctions and therefore everything looks to have been blown out of proportion with Haaland, who showed far worse conduct after the 3-3 draw against Tottenham, free to escape unscathed.
Mark Halsey
Not a football.london writer, but former Premier League referee Halsey told the Sun: “You could argue it’s violent conduct because it’s like he’s throwing an object at someone’s head. It’s like he’s throwing a punch at someone’s head.
“So he can count himself very lucky that [referee] Michael Oliver didn’t see that and VAR didn’t pick it up either. It will be interesting to see if the FA take retrospective action over that incident because it could be construed as violent conduct.” He added: “He’s used the ball as a weapon, not his fist.”
Dermot Gallagher
Speaking to Sky Sports, Gallagher analysed the incident as well. On the ball throw he said: “Running the risk of another melee aren’t you because this is what happens afterward, it’s just pulled back to 2-2, tempers are high.
