Arsenal defender Rob Holding criticised by Jamie Redknapp after red card against Tottenham

Arsenal defender Rob Holding has been criticised by Jamie Redknapp after his costly sending off left his side teetering in their crunch clash against Tottenham.

Centre back Holding has impressed in recent weeks in place of the injured Ben White, but was left red-faced in north London after picking up two poor bookings.

He was made to walk in only the 33rd minute after clattering into Son Heung-min with his elbow, with referee Paul Tierney quick to hand him his marching orders.

Arsenal defender Rob Holding has been criticised after he was sent off against Tottenham

Holding picked up his first card seven minutes earlier, having brought down tricky forward Son shortly after Harry Kane sent Spurs in front with a well-taken penalty.

The home team capitalised on the man advantage, and at half-time, pundit Redknapp was critical in his analysis of the mistakes from the 26-year-old.

‘There were two incidents before he was even booked,’ he said on Sky Sports. 

Centre back Holding (left) was shown a red card for two separate bookings in the crunch clash

Jamie Redknapp savaged him for being ‘silly’, and said he could have picked up a straight red

‘We spoke before the game in these derby matches, a match of this magnitude, cool heads. Don’t do anything silly. 

‘That’s a silly thing, he’s doing judo moves on the football field. Then he gets caught again, and it becomes an accumulation. That is obviously a booking. Once you’ve been booked, you just have to be so careful. You don’t want to get too tight to Son. 

‘He wants to keep running behind you. You’ve already got a major problem with him, he’s too quick for you. He’s too powerful. Do not get him in a foot race, and certainly get too tight to him like this. That could even be a red card. 

‘You can see he puts his elbow up there. It’s a really poor decision from Rob Holding. 

Holding was shown his first card after hauling the tricky Heung-min Son back in the first half

Mikel Arteta also came under fire from Redknapp, who accused the manager of not reacting

‘But then I must admit the manager gets it wrong. After you lose your centre back, the first rule is to get another centre back on the pitch as soon as you can. He should have got Ben White on. He doesn’t react. 

‘He was getting warmed up, all of his staff were thinking about what to do next. 

‘They left themselves short, then they get done by a set piece when you need a centre back, and you’re not the tallest team in the world either.’

Kane’s second goal on 37 minutes handed Spurs a significant boost in their quest to reach the Champions League, while Son added a third after the second half restart.