Mikel Arteta told he made immediate mistake after Holding sent off for Arsenal

Mikel Arteta has been told he made an immediate mistake after Rob Holding was sent off for Arsenal in their loss to rivals Tottenham.

Holding was dismissed by referee Paul Tierney on Thursday night after receiving two yellow cards inside the opening 33 minutes, with the second coming for an erratic elbow on Son Heung-min. Following the Gunners going down to 10 men, Arteta opted against making a substitution and instead reshuffled those players on the pitch to deal with the red card.

That decision drew criticism at half-time from Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp after Arsenal had slipped further behind before the interval.

“I must admit, the manager gets it wrong too," explained Redknapp. "Once you lose your centre back, the first thing you do is get another one on as soon as you can.

“He should have got Ben White on, all of his staff are trying to figure out what to do, they are then left short and are done by a set-piece when they needed a centre back because they are not the tallest team either.”

The returning Ben White was the only recognised central defender on the bench for Arteta on Thursday night, having missed the club's last two matches.

Instead of bringing White on after the red card, Arteta instead chose to move around the players already on the pitch, with Granit Xhaka dropping into the back four to fill the void left by Holding heading for an early bath.

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That decision appeared to backfire almost immediately as Harry Kane doubled Spurs' lead just four minutes later as he stooped at the back host to nod the ball past Aaron Ramsdale.

Kane had already put the hosts ahead earlier in the half with an emphatic penalty following a foul by Cedric Soares on Son. Spurs made it 3-0 shortly after the interval thanks to Son as Antonio Conte's side closed out a comfortable win over their rivals.

Arteta explained: "To take a risk in the situation of the game, it was not worth it. Now, we focus on Newcastle."

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