Watch: Referee Makes Strange Count-out Against Granit Xhaka That Leave Arsenal Fans Baffled

Arsenal inched one step closer to the hallowed spot for the European glory as they pipped Aston Villa to an absolute nail-biter. In a cagey affair, both sides resorted to a safety-first approach as it took a while for the embers to fly.

Despite the game starting on a slow note, the players started bursting out of their shells as time whizzed by. It was Bukayo Saka’s astonishing low-volley that bombed its way past Emi Martinez, giving the lead to the Gunners.

The referee leaves Arsenal fans in disbelief

The game took an ugly turn as time whizzed by as Aston Villa was desperate to get themselves an equalizer but a resolute defensive show from Arsenal didn’t allow them any categorical infringement.

Under the watchful eyes of Granit Xhaka, Ben White and Gabriel, all the stinging enterprises from Villa fizzled out as mere misses as the Gunners chronicled an emphatic win to bolster their vice on the fourth position of the points table.

Sadly, for football fans, things went down the fighter’s lane as both the teams got extremely physical with varied interests on the line. Trying to put up a fierce display of defence, Xhaka somehow ended up blurring the lines as he lunged himself into Buendia.

However, that was the only rash attempt of Xhaka to cut short a Villa player that had foul written all over it. Much to everyone’s surprise, the stickler showed Xhaka a count of three that didn’t make any sense for the spectators.

They were still reeling from the fact that how on earth does the referee makes an accusation that probably wouldn’t have happened and that too at such a high-level game.

Fortunately for the official, Arsenal managed to walk away with the bragging rights despite sparks flying at the end that saw two more yellow cards being handed over to Cedric Soares and Thomas Partey. The Gunners concourse wasn’t particularly happy about the fact that the Villa players walked out scot-free despite being brash in their attempts to snatch away the balls.