Arsenal fans were upset during Saturday’s game against Leicester when Wilfred Ndidi avoided receiving a second yellow card after clearly booting the ball away.

The incident happened in the 35th minute, when Bukayo Saka was fouled by Stephy Mavididi.

Ndidi, who had been cautioned for fouling Ricardo Calafiori four minutes before, ran over to kick the ball past Saka and off the pitch.

This was identical to an incident that resulted in Leandro Trossard’s sending off away at Manchester City last weekend.

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has received a second yellow card this season for kicking the ball away and ‘delaying the restart’, which officials were advised to clamp down on over the summer.

 

Wilfred Ndidi was shown a yellow card at Arsenal but he was perhaps lucky not to be sent off

 

Leandro Trossard got a second yellow card against Man City for a seemingly similar offence

Declan Rice (right) has also received his second booking for ‘delaying the restart’ this season.

It may be claimed that Ndidi was not delaying the restart on this occasion because Arsenal did not want to take a quick free kick.

Nonetheless, numerous supporters immediately accused Premier League authorities of ‘hypocrisy’.

One tweet read: “Ndidi kicks the ball away after fouling Saka.” You see the hypocrisy, lol’.

Another user said, ‘I really need to grasp this touch the ball after the referee whistle regulation because why is it okay for Ndidi to kick the ball here’.