Michael Owen, a former Manchester United striker, believes Casemiro shouldn’t have made the challenge that led to him receiving a one-match suspension.
Despite being just one caution away from missing the weekend match against Arsenal, the Brazilian midfielder started against Crystal Palace on Wednesday night.
Thereafter, in the 80th minute, Casemiro was shown a yellow card for bringing down Wilfried Zaha.
Arsenal fans seeing that Casemiro be suspended for their game on Sunday after picking up a yellow card: pic.twitter.com/dbKHDTT9LG
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Was Casemiro At Fault For The Booking?
In response to a question about the foul, Owen told Premier League Productions that the challenge on Zaha was unnecessary because a player was covering. The 43-year-old explained: “Yeah, he will be a massive loss.
“You get away without Casemiro in certain games if they were playing at home to somebody next, a team outside the top four or five then it’s not so bad.
“But when you play against the big boys, when you play against the best teams, you have to have absolutely everybody, all your best players fit and ready to go and that is a massive blow.
“He shrugged his shoulders as if to say he couldn’t do anything but he could have.
“[Raphael] Varane was behind him, it wasn’t an absolutely last ditch challenge and Ten Hag – you saw his reaction as well so that is a bitter blow.
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“That last ten minutes was a nightmare for them, they lose one of their best players for a big game and they concede a goal and lose two points.
“You can’t bring him off at 1-0 because it just goes to show they went and equalised, you can’t risk bringing him off. So yeah, a disastrous ten minutes for Manchester United.”
United’s draw means they sit third in the table level on points with Manchester City. However, the Blues can extend their advantage over their rivals if they beat Tottenham on Thursday.
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