A lot happened in the aftermath of Arsenal’s emphatic 4-1 victory over Aston Villa.
The Gunners were excellent on Tuesday night. They blew Villa away in the second half and deservedly picked up all three points at the Emirates.
Even though people should be talking about Arsenal’s performance on the pitch, what happened after the game is what has dominated the headlines.
Now, a new detail has emerged regarding Aston Villa’s director of football operations.
Be honest. What was your immediate reaction to seeing Unai Emery snub a handshake with Mikel Arteta?
Why Aston Villa director was ‘furious’ after Arsenal won 4-1
There was a lot to talk about after Arsenal thrashed Aston Villa.
Unai Emery refused to shake Mikel Arteta’s hand after the game, while Gabriel Magalhaes copied Amadou Onana’s celebration.
Furthermore, the Villa boss complained that his side were made to face the Gunners twice in the same month, even though it had no bearing on the result.
Now, Sam Matterface has revealed on talkSPORT that Emery was not happy with Gabriel’s opener in the game, but there was another refereeing decision that irked the Villa camp.
The journalist said: “This is what happened in the tunnel. After the match, I spoke to Unai Emery, and I asked him about the Gabriel goal, whether or not it should’ve been overruled.
“He just looked at me and just went: ‘It’s England. In Europe, it would’ve been ruled out, but it wouldn’t in England.'”
Matterface added: “The director of football operations, Damian Vidagany, he hung back after the game to tell us that he was furious about the fact that Mikel Merino was fortunate to escape a second yellow card.”
Imagine you are Unai Emery. How would you respond after hearing 60,000 people chant this to you?
Is this why he didn't shake Arteta's hand?😂
Did Mikel Merino deserve a red card during Arsenal vs Aston Villa?
Darren England was the referee when Arsenal smashed four past Aston Villa.
It was a busy day for the official at the Emirates, and there were complaints from both sets of fans regarding some of his decisions.
Arsenal supporters were furious that England allowed Villa to waste time in the first half. It was so bad that the ball was only in play for 24 minutes before half-time.
Villa fans’ biggest issue was the possible second yellow card to Merino, and to be fair to them, the Spaniard deserved to be sent off for blatantly pulling Morgan Rogers down.
However, Arsenal were 2-0 up and flying at that stage of the game, and we don’t think it would’ve made too much of a difference to the result.
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