The reason why Ruben Dias escaped red card for kicking out at Ben White

Ruben Dias received a yellow card for kicking out at Ben White during Manchester City’s top of the table encounter with Arsenal.

It was tipped as a heavyweight clash that was likely to decide the title, however the first half was as one-sided as imaginable.

City opened the scoring in the seventh minute via Kevin De Bruyne, before John Stones added a second before the interval to put Pep Guardiola’s men in complete control.

But moments before the break White was seen rolling on the floor clutching his ankle, with both sets of player pushing and shoving one another after an incident with Dias.

Indeed, moments earlier White had shoved Dias to the ground and delivered a little kick at the City defender. In response, Dias flicked out a boot at White, making contact with the Arsenal star's leg.

While VAR checked the incident, the Portugal international received just a yellow card, to the dismay of the Arsenal fans.

However, according to a former Premier League referee it was the correct decision.

Mark Clattenburg on Neves incident

Mark Clattenberg insisted there was not enough force in Dias' kick to warrant a sending off.

He said on BT Sport: "Yeah what I think they did is they looked for a potential red card.

"Did Ruben Dias use any force in the challenge with the kick out to Ben White?

"He didn't, it was more of a petulant kick and therefore the VAR was correct in identifying that was a yellow card offence."

Arsenal were always going to need a bit of luck to dispatch City at the Etihad. Of course, the north Londoner's recent record there is woeful.

Before this evening Arsenal had lost seven straight games to Pep Guardiola’s men, and 14 of their last 15. Indeed, in the last six years, their only positive result against City was a 2-0 FA Cup final win in July 2020.

Moreover, in the league Arsenal last claimed a victory against City in December 2015, and have since registered two draws and 12 defeats, including 11 straight losses.

Topics: Manchester City, Arsenal, Ruben Dias, Ben White

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.