Fresh Howard Webb theory emerges after Premier League statement on Arsenal red card

Richard Keys has waded into the debate surrounding and after the defender was sent off at the weekend.

Saliba, 23, was initially booked in the first half of . The Frenchman was given his marching orders just minutes later, though, when his card .

Webb, the chief of the PGMOL, was in attendance for Saturday evening's game and was seen speaking on the phone during the VAR review, prompting theories from some people online that .

Such speculation . But has now rekindled the discussion over the matter and is sympathising with Gunners fans following the incident.

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Writing in his blog, Keys said: "I can understand why fans were furious that Tosin wasn’t sent-off in a replica of the incident that saw Saliba dismissed the previous day. Perhaps the difference was that Howard Webb wasn’t at the game?

"The PGMOL tell us that Webb had nothing to do with Saliba’s sending off so we must believe them. But who was he texting? Was he ordering pizza? A car home? Dinner somewhere? We’ll never know. What I do know is that it wasn’t a good look to get caught on the phone at that moment."

The swiftly released a statement explaining why Saliba's yellow card had been upgraded to red on Saturday evening. They said: "The referee gave Saliba a yellow card for a challenge on Evanilson.

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"The VAR deemed that Saliba denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and recommended an on-field review. The referee then upgraded the yellow to a red card."

Sky Sports presenter Dave Jones quickly moved to scotch the conspiracy theories surrounding Webb during coverage of the match, explaining that the PGMOL chief was simply listening in to the VAR audio rather than actually intervening.

He said: "There have been one or two people you might have seen on social media speculating about what Howard Webb was up to in the crowd, the head of the PGMOL. He's got that earpiece in as well, he's got his phone out.

"But what we understand he is doing is listening to a match feed of the VAR officials and their communication with the on-field officials, as we do as broadcasters. But he has no input, he has no ability to talk to the officials who are actually making the decisions. He's not trying to [influence things], he's watching the game."

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