Claude Puel joked that Jamie Vardy left the pitch in the closing stages of Leicester City’s defeat to Arsenal on Monday because he could not stomach a controversial penalty decision.
Vardy jogged straight down the tunnel in the final minutes at the Emirates Stadium with his team 3-1 down and out of substitutions, leading to widespread bemusement as well as suggestions that he had felt a sudden desperate need to use the bathroom.
Puel clarified that Vardy felt unable to continue due to a stomach complaint, but connected his striker’s withdrawal to referee Chris Kavanagh’s failure to award Leicester a penalty in the first half when Rob Holding, already on a booking, handled the ball in the area with the score 0-0.
“Jamie was ill and he could not come back into the top game,” Puel said of Vardy. “He felt this in the second half. It was his stomach... he could not digest the penalty decision.
“I didn't understand why the referee didn't give a penalty. It was a penalty and a second yellow card and sending off. This situation can change the game.”
Leicester enjoyed the better of the first half and deservedly took the lead in the 31st minute when Hector Bellerin inadvertently turned Ben Chilwell’s low cross into his own net, but the Spaniard redeemed himself on the stroke of half-time when his low cross allowed Mesut Ozil to bring Arsenal level with a classy finish.
The second half belonged to Ozil, who played in Bellerin to find substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with another cross before gracing a brilliant team move with two stylish flicks either side of a sublime dummy to leave the former Borussia Dortmund striker with another easy finish.
Puel, however, insisted that the final result was more a reflection of Leicester’s mistakes after the interval than Ozil’s individual brilliance.
“At the beginning of the second half we lost a lot of balls, we gave them the ball too easily and put ourselves under pressure,” he added. “But we had chances to be leading by more.
“We didn't come back in the second half with the same quality and intensity. But we don't deserve this result at the end. It was a shame.”
