During Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to Inter Milan, supporters believe Mikel Arteta ought to have been sent off.

After Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Newcastle, the Gunners manager watched his team lose at the San Siro for the second time in a row. He was given a yellow card halfway through the second half for tampering with the ball while it was still in play.

The ball bounced into Arteta’s technical area in the 63rd minute when Bukayo Saka struck the ball against Inter midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, with Arsenal chasing the match after Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty on the stroke of halftime.

The spinning ball seemed to be going out of play at first, but Arteta was able to stop it with his hand after bending down to keep it on the field.

Even worse, his meddling stopped Matteo Darmian from taking back possession for the Italian powerhouses, which infuriated the full-back and his teammates.

Fans are convinced Mikel Arteta should have been sent off for handling the ball while it was still in play during Arsenal’s narrow 1-0 defeat against Inter Milan on Wednesday night

The referee and Arteta laughed about it as he was shown a yellow card after the interference

During games, the Arsenal manager has developed the practice of standing quite near the touchline.

Istvan Kovacs, the Romanian referee, seemed to be having a nice conversation with the Spanish manager on the touchline as he grinned and gave Arteta his yellow card.

Many supporters felt that Arteta should have been sent off for his conduct at the San Siro and were disappointed that he was spared additional punishment for interfering with play.

“Sending-off offences include (but are not limited to): entering the field of play to: interfere with play, an opposing player, or a match official,” the fan said in a post on X.

Another said: “Arteta should have been sent off for this.” What is he doing?

Another Tottenham fan expressed their annoyance by saying: “How can Arteta be this close to the play and think it’s okay, let alone picking up the ball?” He distracts players two or three times during each Premier League game.

Carlos Corberan, the manager of West Bromwich Albion, was dismissed for a similar offense earlier this year in the Championship.

The Spaniard kicked the ball while it was still in play six minutes into the Baggies’ match against Southampton, following a pass from Saints star Sekou Mara to teammate Ryan Fraser.

Referee Sam Allison gave Corberan his marching orders even though he quickly apologized, believing the ball was out of play.

Fans quickly took to social media to point out how Arteta was lucky just to receive a booking

Earlier this year, Carlos Corberan, the manager of West Brom, was dismissed for a similar offense.

Arteta was spared the same penalty, but Arsenal lost badly that evening and dropped to 12th place out of 36 in the Champions League standings.

After Mikel Merino accidentally handled the ball in the box, giving spot-kick expert Calhanoglu a fantastic opportunity from the penalty spot, referee Kovacs gave Inter a penalty in stoppage time at the end of the first half.

The midfielder made no mistakes and gave Inter a vital advantage that they were able to hold despite Arsenal’s second-half offensive barrage.

After Gabriel Magalhaes’ attempt was cleared off the line by Denzel Dumfries, Yann Sommer skillfully stopped Kai Havertz’s long-range curling attempt, allowing his team to cling onto all three points and move up to fifth place in the Champions League standings.