Arsenal defender William Saliba escaped a red card during his side’s costly defeat by Fulham after tangling with Harry Wilson on the edge of the penalty area.

Mikel Arteta’s side collapsed to their second straight defeat in a significant blow to their Premier League title hopes despite Bukayo Saka’s early breakthrough.

Raul Jimenez tucked home the equaliser after sliding in at the far post before half-time and Bobby Decordova-Reid capitalised on sloppy defending to net the winner.

Referee Josh Smith was quick to urge for calm and brandished his yellow card to the disbelief of the home crowd, who began to chant for a VAR intervention.

Arsenal defender William Saliba (second from left) avoided a red card in the loss by Fulham

The centre back and his team-mates fell to a second straight limp Premier League defeat

Replays show Gabriel positioned alongside Saliba when Wilson looked to break his way toward David Raya’s goal, likely sparing his team-mate from an early bath. 

Indeed, as Wilson moved between the two centre backs, Saliba stepped across to halt his momentum while his partner continued to track back with a straight run.

Shortly after the incident, social media users compared the booking to Virgil van Dijk’s red card during Liverpool’s dramatic victory at Newcastle in August.

On that occasion, Van Dijk was dismissed for a last-man foul on Alexander Isak.

‘Interesting. Saliba only got a yellow. VVD got a red for that…’ one X user said.

Social media users complained that Virgil van Dijk was sent off for a similar offence in August

Another posted: ‘Virj got a red card for the same offence. Last man they said then. Saliba extremely lucky, VAR as usual.’

A third wrote: ‘How did Saliba not get a red card there. Van Dijk got a red card against Newcastle United for the same foul. VAR robbed Fulham. 

Post-match, Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice tore into his side’s limp performance.

‘Very disappointing. Very tough to take, obviously not good enough for us again today,’ he said. ‘The last two results are not what we required. 

‘We were performing very well up until the last two games, after the draw at Liverpool we thought we could kick on, so this is tough to swallow.’