Kevin Campbell has slammed the decision not to send Bruno Fernandes off after his ‘dangerous’ tackle on .
suffered a 3-1 defeat to on Sunday and things could have been a lot worse for the visitors had Fernandes seen red.
A crunching late tackle from the Portuguese midfielder on Tavares saw referee Craig Pawson hand out a yellow card, but former Gunner Campbell believes he was lucky to stay on the pitch.
‘I have seen some challenges this season that don’t warrant red cards but have got them,’ he told .
‘Nobody can tell me that Fernandes should not have been sent off there. He was like British Rail… He was that late.
‘I don’t want the referee to spoil the occasion by sending players off but the fact of the matter is he could have broken his leg. It was that dangerous.
‘The fact is was only a yellow is a joke. I have seen players sent off for a lot, lot less.
‘Is it the referee, is it VAR? I give up. The referee was right there and he did not give it. Pawson bottled it. He bottled it because it is Fernandes and Man United.’
Fernandes found himself in hot water a few days earlier too in the 4-0 defeat to rivals Liverpool at Anfield, also picking up a yellow card.
Arsenal legend Ian Wright was quick to condemn his behaviour for ‘lashing out’ at players.
Speaking on the Ringer FC podcast, the former England striker said: ‘Seeing Bruno Fernandes just lashing out at people, lashing out at Trent really wildly, and then the challenge on Nuno, you look at it and you think to yourself, “that’s not what Manchester United need from you, my friend”.
‘Manchester United need a lot more than you going around trying to top people. He was lucky not to get sent off. But this is what it’s come to.’
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