Manuel Akanji has hit out at Anthony Taylor’s performance, questioning his decisions in Manchester City’s draw against Arsenal
Man City were held at home as they played out a goalless draw with Arsenal on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta’s tactics frustrated Pep Guardiola’s side as Liverpool fans took aim at the way the Gunners approached the fixture.
The match referee has now come under fire for his showing, with Akanji failing to understand some of his decisions.
Taylor handed out two yellow cards to the visitors, who committed 20 fouls.
But the Blues defender believes Arsenal got away with some dirty tricks as he bemoaned their game plan.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “One in the first half [from Kai Havertz] was a very late tackle on Stefan [Ortega].
“For me it is clearly a yellow card. I don’t want to say just against us. There were also some decisions against them that I didn’t understand what he gave a foul for.
“There are some rules and I think there are clear yellow cards where it should be. I remember the action with Jorginho when he’d already done a foul and did the second one, and he didn’t even give a yellow card for one foul.”
Manchester City players react to a decision made by Anthony Taylor.
Akanji added: “I didn’t understand some decisions but, in the end, we still should be able to score a goal.
“When we got through sometimes, they stopped us with their fouls and if there’s no action [from the referee], it’s hard.
“Obviously we wanted to win today and didn’t get the three points, but it’s still all open and all to play for [in the title race].”
The point against Arsenal leaves Man City in third place, one point behind Sunday’s opponents and three points behind league leaders Liverpool, who beat Brighton 2-1.
Akanji and Co. return to action on Wednesday when they host Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.