Richard Keys baffled by what he noticed as VAR discussed major incident in Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal

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William Saliba made headlines on Saturday after receiving a straight red card as Arsenal suffered a 2-0 defeat against Bournemouth.

The France international was left isolated after a woeful ball towards his own goal from Leandro Trossard, who would have put Evanilson through against David Raya – had the Arsenal No.2 not pulled the Brazilian back.

As things stand, the result leaves Arsenal third in the Premier League.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
2	Man CityManchester City	7	5	2	0	17	8	9	17
3	ArsenalArsenal	8	5	2	1	15	8	7	17
4	Aston VillaAston Villa	8	5	2	1	15	10	5	17

It was the denial of a goalscoring opportunity – so Rob Jones was correct to dismiss William Saliba – although Richard Keys spotted something interesting just before the referee eventually changed the yellow to a red after VAR intervened.

Richard Keys suggests Howard Webb influenced William Saliba dismissal

For those watching on Sky Sports, cameras panned to Howard Webb as VAR spoke to Jones about his initial decision to show just a yellow card.

The Chief Refereeing Officer for the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) could be seen texting on his phone, before holding his finger to an earpiece, leaving many to question whether the 53-year-old influenced Saliba’s sending off.

That is what Keys seemed to suggest on X (previously known as Twitter) at least, as the beIN SPORTS pundit wrote: “Who was Howard Webb texting? And why?”

We already feel there are too many cooks in the VAR booth – so to speak – judging by released audio files regarding decisions, so it would be madness if Webb was actually being allowed to get involved in the conversation too.

Nevertheless, Saliba – who Real Madrid want to sign – was guilty, and the officials eventually came to the correct decision.

Mikel Arteta has options to solve Arsenal issue

Of course, Saliba is a hugely significant player for Arsenal, but Mikel Arteta has a variety of ways in which he can approach being without the Frenchman for three games.

Firstly, the Spaniard has the option of moving Riccardo Calafiori into the centre and deploying Oleksandr Zinchenko or Myles Lewis-Skelly at left-back, while Jakub Kiwior, who was introduced against Bournemouth in place of Saliba, could also simply replace the Arsenal No.2 in a like for like swap.

However, Arteta could also move Ben White back into the middle, where he often played for Leeds and Brighton, with Jurrien Timber – if fit – playing on the right.

Furthermore, Thomas Partey is capable of dropping into defence, so the Ghana international could also be used to deal with the absence of Saliba – who Ally McCoist does not feel is a world class footballer, yet.

In our view, the Gunners will be able to cope without the 23-year-old for a few weeks, as talented as he is.