West Ham 3 Arsenal 3: Should hat-trick hero Andy Carroll have been sent off for challenge on Laurent Koscielny?

Full-blooded: Koscielny was left in pain after Carroll's lunge.
(Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Tom Doyle9 April 2016

There was controversy early on during West Ham's vital Premier League with Arsenal on Saturday, with Andy Carroll and Laurent Koscielny battling each other in the opening stages.

Gunners defender Koscielny appeared to catch Carroll with an elbow during an aerial challenge early on, and the Hammers striker responded by catching the France international with a raking challenge from behind on the heel.

That tackle saw referee Craig Pawson issue Carroll with a yellow card before Koscielny received lengthy treatment from the Arsenal medical staff.

Koscielny was fit to continue, but Pawson's decision was a hammer blow for the Gunners in the long run.

In Pictures: West Ham vs Arsenal

1/7

Arsene Wenger's side went 2-0 up through Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, but Carroll then scored a superb hat-trick to put the hosts ahead at the Boleyn Ground.

Koscielny then got his revenge by scoring Arsenal's third to earn a 3-3 draw, but the result leaves Arsenal 10 points behind table toppers Leicester with six games to go.

West Ham coach Slaven Bilic insists his side have been unlucky with refereeing decisions in recent weeks as they bid to seal a top-four finish to qualify for Champions League football.

Cheikhou Kouyate had his questionable red card against Crystal Palace rescinded by the FA leaving him eligible to face the Gunners on Saturday, but were they lucky to keep 11 men on the pitch this time?

Have your say and vote in Standard Sport's poll below.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in