Danny Murphy and Matt Le Tissier claim Arsenal player got lucky against Leeds

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Matt Le Tissier and Danny Murphy have both claimed that Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka was lucky not to be shown a red card against Leeds United on Monday evening – with the Swiss midfielder guilty of foul after foul.

Reiss Nelson’s second-half strike was enough to send Arsenal into the fourth round of the FA Cup and with a trip down south to Bournemouth, but the Gunners did not have it all their own way despite being against Championship opposition at home.

Leeds dominated the first half, preventing the likes of Mesut Ozil from getting involved. The German playmaker managed just 10 touches in the first 45, with Kalvin Phillips marking the ex-Real Madrid star doggedly.

But Xhaka was guilty of a number of fouls as he competed physically with Mateusz Klich of Leeds throughout. Murphy claimed he was lucky during the BBC One’s live coverage of the match (Monday, 7.30pm), while Le Tissier reacted on Twitter.

“He’s lucky to be on the pitch,” Murphy said. “I don’t know what the referee has seen. He’ll keep tackling like this until he gets booked because there are no repercussions. It’s not a vendetta against Xhaka, it is just his tackling has been horrendous.”

TBR’s view – Anthony Taylor missed a trick in keeping Xhaka calm

If Taylor hands Xhaka a yellow card in the first half – where he had already probably deserved one – then it stops the former Gladbach midfielder from being able to continue committing bad tackles.

On a yellow, Xhaka would be one bad tackle away from having an early bath. It would have seen him stand off the Leeds players rather than being touch tight. Taylor missed a trick and it is inconceivable as to why.