Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has questioned referee Martin Atkinson's decision to send Danny Simpson off during his side's title clash with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this afternoon.
The Foxes led 1-0 when Simpson was shown a second yellow card for pulling Olivier Giroud back, and Arsenal went on to clinch a crucial comeback victory courtesy of goals from Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck.
Ranieri believes that the decision to dismiss his defender cost Leicester the game, but also congratulated Arsenal for winning a "fantastic match".
"It was a fantastic match, very fast. I don't know if in a normal match that our two yellows cards was a sending-off. They were normal fouls, but not yellow cards. I think the referee was too severe to us for the sending-off. 11 vs. 11, I'm sure we win the match. The match was full of fouls so why send off a player? Come on," Ranieri told Sky Sports News.
"We know Arsenal are a fantastic team, they move the ball quickly and have skill, but we had to concentrate. We tried to counter-attack and we controlled the match very well.
"They scored with the last chance - they were smarter than us. We are still top of the table, got two points more - we must carry on and smile. We lost to our opponents - we must say well done."
The result means that Leicester are now just two points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
Barney Corkhill
