Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane was less than impressed with the challenge that earned Leif Davis his marching orders in Ipswich Town’s heavy 4-0 loss at home to Arsenal
Roy Keane stuck the boot in on Ipswich Town’s Leif Davis following his red card against Arsenal, branding the defender’s poorly judged challenge on Bukayo Saka as “unacceptable”.
The left-back, 25, was given his marching orders by Chris Kavanagh after raking his studs down the Arsenal star’s Achilles half an hour into the first half. The call was checked by VAR, who determined – and confirmed in a social media post – that Davis had ‘endangered the safety of his opponent’.
Arsenal, who were already two goals to the good at the time of Davis’ dismissal, cruised to a 4-0 win at Portman Road to nudge Ipswich ever closer to the Premier League’s trapdoor and an instant return to the Championship.
After being sent off for serious foul play, Davis now faces a three-match ban. And he was also subjected to a verbal volley from Keane, analysing Sunday’s games for Sky Sports, after the final whistle.
READ MORE: Premier League issue explanation on red card after horror tackle in Arsenal vs IpswichREAD MORE: Arsenal hammer 10-man Ipswich to delay Liverpool’s title party – 5 talking points
The Manchester United icon said of Davis’ tackle: “He’d had a warning earlier and he’s getting frustrated, but this is unacceptable. It’s a dangerous tackle.
“Saka’s going nowhere, he knows what he’s doing. He seems surprised he gets a red but we’ve looked at it and I think it’s the right decision. Crazy tackle.”
Jamie Carragher, who was also covering the game for Sky Sports, echoed similar sentiments when the studio discussed the incident at half-time. He felt the challenge looked worse after watching it back and praised Kavanagh for getting the call spot on in-play.
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He said: “They looked at it a few times because you’re thinking it’s almost one of those where it’s in between a yellow and a red… almost like an orange if you like.
“But the more you look at it, it’s a really good decision from the officials and what he is doing is absolutely ridiculous. There is no way he can get the ball.”
Fortunately for Arsenal, Saka was able to continue after receiving treatment at Portman Road. He had a hand in both of their first two goals but was withdrawn early in the second half with the points all but wrapped.
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