Jamie Carragher tears into ‘idiot’ Luke Ayling and insists he will never play Prem again

Jamie Carragher did not hold back in his assessment of Luke Ayling’s heavy challenge that saw the Leeds United man shown a straight red card in the first half of Sunday’s match against Arsenal. The 30-year-old was responsible for a full-blooded lunge on Gabriel Martinelli shortly after Eddie Nketiah’s early brace saw the visitors fall behind and was sent off by referee Chris Kavanagh after a lengthy VAR intervention at the Emirates Stadium.

Ayling was initially awarded a yellow card before VAR intervened to prompt Kavanagh to take another look and upgrade his original punishment to an immediate dismissal in spite of the protests from the defender’s Leeds team-mates. Carragher went on to insist in no uncertain terms that Ayling should have known better than to let his team down in such a manner before suggesting that he may never play another Premier League match again if the Whites are relegated at the end of the season.

“I love Luke Ayling as a player, but what an idiot,” said Carragher in his role as a pundit on Sky Sports.

“The lack of professionalism for his own teammates and what that could mean going forward. It’s not just down to 10 men. Disgusting tackle, coming in two feet there.

“It reminds me of a tackle Vinnie Jones did a long time ago, I think maybe Danny Stevens. What he thinks was going to happen on the back of that, it was obvious. That might be the last ever game Ayling ever plays in the Premier League.”

Ayling will receive an automatic three-match ban as a result of his sending-off in north London and is now set to miss the rest of the season for Leeds, who are still trying to stave off the threat of Premier League relegation. The Yorkshire outfit currently find themselves in the drop zone but sit level on points with 17th-placed Burnley, who are only ahead of Jesse Marsch’s side on goal difference.

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