MIKEL ARTETA went on a VAR charm offensive — by hailing Fabio Vieira’s red card.
The Arsenal boss begged for publicity after going out of his way to praise referee Michael Oliver and VAR Michael Salisbury for sending off his player in the 3-1 win over Burnley.
It came a week after he labelled the Prem’s use of video technology as “a disgrace”.
Arteta said: “Please ask me about VAR because it was good. I hope I’m on TV saying the referees are so good and I’m completely with them and being very constructive.”
In a separate interview, he added: “You have to ask me about VAR — it was perfect.
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“Beautiful, the referee and VAR were top. Let’s have some humour as well and move forward.”
The Spaniard had no complaints about Vieira’s straight red card for a lunge on Josh Brownhill.
Speaking about himself in the third person, he said: “Really good decision, really positive from Mikel to speak about that.
“VAR was right. The referee was right.”
Leandro Trossard nodded Arsenal’s 1,000th goal at the Emirates to open the scoring but Brownhill levelled with a low drive.
William Saliba’s header and Oleksandr Zinchenko’s acrobatic effort put the Gunners 3-1 up before Vieira was dismissed.
Victory moved Arsenal up to second in the Prem — level on points with leaders Manchester City, who face Chelsea today.
Arteta added: “The 1,000th goal at the Emirates. A beautiful number.
“It was special because he put his body on the line. This is what this team does.
“I’m really happy with the result, especially the performance — how dominant we were against a team that is very difficult to dominate.
“With the amount of situations we generated I think we fully deserved to win the game.”
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Burnley boss Vincent Kompany was frustrated his side had denied Arsenal space from open play, only to come a cropper from corners.
Kompany, whose side have now lost six Premier League games in a row, said: “When the second half gets decided on two set-pieces, it leaves a bitter feeling.
“It’s again a reminder about staying sharp and alive on everything.”