They dared to complain about the dark arts’ – Arsenal fans all say the same thing as Man City star Jack Grealish escapes red card despite swinging elbow at Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali

It was an intense affair at Tyneside on Saturday afternoon as Newcastle went toe-to-toe with Pep Guardiola’s star-studded squad. The Magpies had better control in the first half but found themselves trailing at the break after Grealish released Josko Gvardiol who skipped past Dan Burn to draw first blood. However, Eddie Howe’s men equalised through Anthony Gordon from the spot to share the spoils.

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  THE EXPLANATION

  Several sub-plots and duels emerged during the battle at St. James’ Park and one of them was being fought between Grealish and Tonali. The two players went at each other on a few occasions and during an off-the-ball incident, the cameras caught Grealish elbowing Tonali in his chest. The Italian immediately went down to the ground as Newcastle players surrounded the referee in protest. VAR also did have a good look at the incident but did not deem it to be violent enough to be a red card offence.

  • WHAT THE FANS ARE SAYING

    Arsenal fans were furious to see Grealish stay on the field and continued to hit back at the dark arts narrative floated by John Stones after the 2-2 draw against the Gunners.

    A Gooner, @MutwiriMutuota, wrote on X: “Jack Grealish gets away with intentionally elbowing a Newcastle player. And they dared to complain about Dark Arts…Filthy club #NEWMCI 0-1 #EPL.”

    Meanwhile, @MaxonAiro wrote: “Gabriel or Rice dare do this, and it’s a straight red card. Grealish casually elbowing people. Not even a caution! 😅😅😅”

    @Bxshhyy wrote: “Second elbow by Grealish he’s just having fun out there.”

    Whereas, @AFCMinded wrote: “So to be clear, you throw an elbow into a player and you can throw a ball at a player’s head without getting a yellow card, but kick the ball away and it’s a yellow. These rules are awful. Grealish should be off by the way. #NEWMCI.”

    Meanwhile, @AFC_OlaitaN wrote: “Grealish just elbowed a player in the box and VAR have nothing to do about it. The rules change when it’s Arsenal.”

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    WHAT NEXT FOR GREALISH?

    After escaping a potential red, Grealish will be back in action against Fulham on October 5 in the Premier League. However, before that, City have a Champions League clash to deal with against Slovan Bratislava.