Arsenal Boss Arteta Gives His Verdict On Nicolas Pepe Headbutt

Arsenal managed to survive and hold Leeds to a stalemate despite playing over 40 minutes with a man less.

The incident occurred just after half time, and after a VAR check, Nicolas Pepe was given his marching orders at Elland Road after an ‘unacceptable’ headbutt on Ezgjan Alioski.

Afterwards Mikel Arteta did not hold back as he blasted the winger for his hot-headed reaction.

He told BBC: “It is unacceptable. Unacceptable.

“At this level you cannot do it.”

On the result, Arteta added: “Considering how early we got Pepe sent off we have to take it.

“I never like a draw but in the circumstances it’s a point. It is unacceptable.

“The first half there were two different periods. The game broke a bit, we started to give the ball away and led to them having the space to break.

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“The second half it was a matter of defending well and staying patient and using the pace of our players in the space they were leaving.”

This post was first published on GoalBall.