Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has come out in support of Andre Marriner, after the under-fire referee wrongly sent off Arsenal’s Kieran Gibbs.
Marriner sent off Gibbs during Arsenal’s 6-0 thumping defeat at the hands of Chelsea in Arsene Wenger’s 1,000th game as Gunners boss for a handball which he adjudged to have prevented a goal.
However, Gibbs was not the player to have handled the ball – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was the player to have dived across goal to stop the ball with his hand. Despite the appeals of Oxlade-Chamberlain to the referee, Gibbs was sent off for the foul – furthermore, on top of the mistake, video replays suggest that the incident was not a red card offence, with the shot appearing not to have been on target.
Marriner has since apologised to Arsenal for sending off Gibbs, but the referee continues to be on the end of heavy criticism following the mistake. Neville has come out in support of Marriner, claiming that, in real-time, there was no way he could know the shot was heading wide, but added that the mistake was “emabrrasing”.
He wrote on his official Twitter account: “Personally I think the ref has the red right in real time. No way he can know it’s going wide!Wrong player is just embarrassing not criminal. ”
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