Gabriel Paulista is braced for sanction on Friday, when a hearing will consider his improper conduct charge from the Football Association, with Arsène Wenger believing it correct that the Arsenal defender’s failure to leave the field immediately after his red card at Chelsea should be treated in isolation to the rest of the incident.
Gabriel was given a straight red card by the referee, Mike Dean, in last Saturday’s game at Stamford Bridge after he backed towards Diego Costa and flicked a boot at the striker’s shins. He faced a three-match ban for violent conduct only for it to be overturned on appeal on Tuesday.
The rescinding of the card has placed a different spin on Gabriel’s furious reaction to Dean’s decision; he did not leave the field straight away and had to be escorted off. It has been suggested Gabriel ought not to be punished for his reaction to an improper decision but the FA and Wenger do not seem to see it that way.
Gabriel has been charged for the failure to follow protocol after the sending-off, and nothing that has happened since has changed that. He faces either a fine or a ban.
Wenger was asked after Wednesday’s Capital One Cup win at Tottenham Hotspur whether the three-man panel should bear in the mind the fact the red card had subsequently been rescinded. “I don’t think they will,” Wenger replied. “They will judge that situation and it’s right. They cannot consider the whole context of the game. You want them to judge. They will decide and we’ll accept the decision.
“I said after the game Gabriel should not have responded at all and I maintain that. I told him that. But when I saw it again, he did not do a lot, honestly. You want them just to have a fair judgment and we will accept what they decide.”
Arsenal and Chelsea were charged with the failure to control their players – they will discover their sanctions next week – while Chelsea are to receive the full written reasoning from the FA on Friday for Costa’s retrospective three-match violent conduct ban. Costa was punished for catching Laurent Koscielny in the face.
