Roy Keane says Aston Villa were ‘very lucky’ with ‘swinging elbow’ against Spurs

Roy Keane has said that Diego Carlos was lucky to escape without punishment for catching Bryan Gil in the face in the first half. The incident occurred in the third minute of the game as a scramble in front of the Villa goal saw Emiliano Martinez dive to collect the ball. The Tottenham players were […]

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Roy Keane has said that Diego Carlos was lucky to escape without punishment for catching Bryan Gil in the face in the first half.

The incident occurred in the third minute of the game as a scramble in front of the Villa goal saw Emiliano Martinez dive to collect the ball.

The Tottenham players were appealing for handball at the time and while replays did show that the ball made contact with Ezri Konsa’s hand, the Villa defender clearly had no idea where the ball was at the time.

(Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Should Spurs have had a penalty vs Aston Villa?

However, what the slow-motion replay also showed was that in the background, Carlos shoved his arm at Gil to stop the Tottenham winger from getting to the ball, with the Brazilian’s elbow catching the Spaniard flush on his face.

VAR did not intervene in the incident, perhaps because Gil was not going to get to the ball anyway but Keane felt that the Villa centre-back could not have too many complaints if he had been given his marching orders.

The former Man United star told Sky Sports (26/11/23 from 14:55) at half-time: “Silly boy, he must look and think there’s obviously no chance he’s getting the ball but once you raise your elbow, it’s kind of a swinging elbow, very, very lucky.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I do not think the Spurs players did enough to bring the referee’s attention to the incident as some were more focused on Konsa’s handball, which was never going to be given. One could argue that VAR should have intervened as Carlos was blatantly swinging his elbow and caught Gil in the face.

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