Although Mikel Arteta denied Marouane Chamakh the possibility of carrying on towards the Arsenal goal without interruption in the way, Chris Foy doesn’t have prophetic powers. A player fouled on the halfway line is too far away from goal to declare whether or not it’s a clear goal opportunity.
Not that Crystal Palace made the most of the chance they got. Crystal Palace have lost 8 matches out of nine because they have a terrible midfield and struggle in creating opportunities. They might be hard to beat at home, but Arsenal had enough of luck through Mikel Arteta’s penalty kick at the beginning of the second half and Olivier Giroud scoring his fifth goal of the season while the home side were desperately trying to find the equalizer.
The Arteta red card might have made more headlines if Arsenal would have lost or dropped some points, but it didn’t matter in the end. It just made another example of how difficult the job of the referee is, and how some of them decide to interpret the quite clear rules wrongly under the immense pressure they’re in to make the right call.
However, this one wasn’t a matter of a split second decision. Arteta did probably deny a 2-on-1 situation in favor of Palace, but Chamakh isn’t the fastest player in the world, and being so far away from goal doesn’t guarantee a clear goal opportunity.
The problem for Arsenal now is their central midfield situation. Mathieu Flamini left the match after 8 minutes, picking up another injury, and Arteta was sent off which means he’ll be out for at least one more match.