Manuel Akanji hits out at referee Anthony Taylor for missing ‘clear yellow cards’ after Arsenal frustrated Manchester City in the title race
Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji has criticised the performance of referee Anthony Taylor after the reigning champions goalless draw with Arsenal on Sunday.
The stalemate at the Etihad Stadium saw Man City and Arsenal lose ground on Liverpool in the title race.
Man City appeared frustrated during the clash at Arsenal players avoiding sanction for a series of fouls that broke up the game.
Akanji claimed post-match that he ‘didn’t understand’ some decisions made by Taylor, suggested the referee had missed ‘clear yellow cards’.
‘I don’t understand. One in the first half [from Kai Havertz] was a very late tackle on Stefan. For me it is clearly a yellow card,’ Akanji said.
Manuel Akanji questioned Anthony Taylor’s performance in Man City’s draw with Arsenal
Akanji claimed Kai Havertz should have been booked for a tackle on goalkeeper Stefan Ortega
‘I don’t want to say just against us. There were also some decisions against them that I didn’t understand that he gave a foul for.
‘There are some rules and I think there are clear yellow cards where it should be. I remember the action with Jorginho when he’d already done a tackle foul and did the second one and he didn’t even give a yellow card for one foul.
‘I didn’t understand some decisions but, in the end, we still should be able to score a goal.
‘When we got through some times they stopped us with the fouls and if there’s no actions to it it’s hard.’
Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya and forward Gabriel Jesus were the only players booked in the match with neither shown for a foul.
Akanji admitted that Arsenal’s approach at the Etihad had worked, with Man City failing to score for the first time in a Premier League home game since October 2021, ending a run of 47 straight games.
