William Saliba banned from taking Arsenal penalty in shootout vs Man Utd due to little-known rule

Arsenal star William Saliba was banned from taking a penalty in the FA Cup third round shootout against Manchester United - for a little-known reason.

The Gunners were knocked out of the FA Cup after a 5-3 defeat to United on penalties, with Joshua Zirkzee scoring the decisive spot kick in front of the visiting supporters.

United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir made an outstanding save low to his left to deny Kai Havertz, having already made a save from Martin Odegaard's penalty in normal time.

That spot kick was controversially awarded for a foul by Harry Maguire, even though the United centre-back appeared to have made no meaningful contact with Havertz.

United also played the final 30 minutes with 10 players after Diogo Dalot was shown a second yellow card - making the end result all the more impressive.

In the penalty shootout, Odegaard, Havertz, Declan Rice and Thomas Partey all took spot kicks for Arsenal.

But manager Mikel Arteta could only choose from 10 players to take penalties due to a little-known rule.

William Saliba was still on the pitch at the time of the shootout after completing 120 minutes at the Emirates Stadium, but could not take a penalty himself.

That was because, as per FA rules, one team cannot have more penalty takers than the other in a shootout.

As United had Dalot sent off during normal time, it meant Arsenal had to choose one player to step aside - with Saliba being the man chosen.

That means that, even if each team had reached 11 penalties taken, the cycle would have simply reset after 10 penalties, with Odegaard and first United taker Bruno Fernandes taking the 11th penalties.

Interestingly, Arsenal opted to prioritise goalkeeper David Raya taking a spot kick over allowing Saliba to have one.

In the end, though, it mattered little as the Gunners were knocked out after just four penalty kicks.

Speaking after the match, United boss Ruben Amorim told media: "Especially in the first half, we played better than in the first game [against Arsenal under his management, a 2-0 loss in the Premier League in December].

"We were better in set-pieces today, more aggressive. We showed spirit, even with 10 men.

"The sending off was really hard on us. There were some opportunities from Arsenal. The players were really tired.

"But I felt since the first minute today was our day. And I felt a connection with our fans."