Arsenal's Mikel Merino should have received a second yellow card for pulling back Morgan Rogers in Aston Villa's Premier League match last month
17:46, 13 Jan 2026
The Premier League's Key Match Incidents Panel has determined that Mikel Merino should have been dismissed during Arsenal's 4-1 home victory over Aston Villa on 30 December.
With the Gunners leading 2-0, Merino hauled back Morgan Rogers in the 58th minute, but referee Darren England opted not to show the Spaniard a second yellow card.
In a unanimous 5-0 verdict, the panel determined that Merino had 'clearly stopped a promising attack by pulling the arm of Rogers, and a second caution should have been awarded.'
As VAR is unable to intervene on second yellow-card incidents, Merino stayed on the pitch.
At the time, Villa contended it should have been Merino's second booking of the match, having already been cautioned for a foul on Amadou Onana just before half-time.
The Key Match Incidents Panel's verdicts from the first half of the season reveal that Mikel Arteta's team gained from just one VAR error.
Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey, who was asked for his view on the incident, posted on X: "This was a deliberate holding offence by Merino on Rogers that should have resulted in a 2nd [yellow card emoji] for denying a promising attack."
When questioned whether it enters the referee's thinking that a player has already been booked, Halsey responded: "Not every challenge is a [yellow card emoji].
"Referee's will judge challenge's on its merits, IMO [in my opinion] there are far too many [yellow card emoji] shown unnecessarily referee's have lost the art of managing these players.
"The holding offence by Merino was a nailed on 2nd [yellow card emoji]."
Had Merino been sent off, Villa might have found a route back into the match, but Arteta spotted the threat and substituted the Spaniard just over 10 minutes later.
Gabriel Magalhaes, Martin Zubimendi, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus all got their names on the scoresheet, while Ollie Watkins netted a stoppage‐time consolation for the visitors.
Arsenal are currently leading the Premier League, 14 points ahead of reigning champions Liverpool, while Manchester City and Villa trail the Gunners by six points in second and third respectively.
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