Chelsea vs Arsenal: Conte reacts to David Luiz’s red card

Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, has said David Luiz should have been awarded a free-kick, moments before he was sent off for a lunge on Sead Kolasinac, in the final minutes of their goalless draw against Arsenal on Sunday.

Luiz, booked earlier in the match for catching Laurent Koscielny’s face with an attempted bicycle kick, was shown a straight red card by referee Michael Oliver in the 87th minute.

The Brazil defender becomes the third Chelsea player to be red carded in five Premier League matches this season.

“You know very well that I don’t like to comment on refereeing decisions,” Conte said of the incident.

“It is in the past. Now the only thing I can say is it is very important to see what happened before the David Luiz tackle.”

Asked if he was referring to the pressure applied on Luiz by Alexis Sanchez immediately prior to the lunge on Kolasinac, he added: “For sure, that was a foul. For sure. But, I repeat, the referee took this decision. If he stopped the play before, it wouldn’t matter.

“Do you think we are becoming bad? For sure, it’s strange, no? A strange situation. But in normal situations we have to improve. In tactical situations, physical situations, you need to try and improve. Also, you have to be more lucky in the future.

“I was a player and I think it can happen, this type of period, if you are not so lucky and receive red cards.

“In the end, we’ll try to pay more attention in the future. I hope, also, to be more lucky with the refereeing decisions — for us, and also for the opponents. Sometimes [this season] the opponents deserved a red card but, instead, they carry on playing with 11 men.”