Arsenal to appeal Kieran Gibbs' controversial suspension

Arsenal are preparing a double appeal to the Football Association following Kieran Gibbs’s controversial red card in Saturday’s defeat to Chelsea.

The club will bid to have Gibbs’s suspension overturned in time for Tuesday’s match against Swansea, as the left-back was incorrectly dismissed by referee Andre Marriner instead of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Manager Arsene Wenger said: “The referee made a mistake because he missed the identity of the player, he has not seen what happened at all. Maybe it was a penalty, but it was not Gibbs.”

Oxlade-Chamberlain, who actually handled Eden Hazard’s shot, approached the referee to plead Gibbs’s innocence but was waved away.

He will inherit the red card, but the Gunners will appeal that too, arguing that because Hazard’s shot was not goalbound, the midfielder was not guilty of denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Arsene Wenger is desperate to have both players available for the visit of Swansea as he seeks an immediate response to the 6-0 thrashing in his 1,000 game in charge.