Former Arsenal forward Alan Smith defended the club's full back Takehiro Tomiyasu.

The Japanese international received a red card in a narrow 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.

The Gunners have now made it two battling wins from two Premier League games to start the season.

Speaking on Sky Sports regarding the red for two yellow cards, Smith said: “I'm not wearing my Arsenal colors here but to get sent off for that, I know it's his second yellow, it just seems really harsh.

“A tug of the shirt I can understand but there wasn't much there at all."

However, the Premier League are coming down hard on time wasting during matches.

As the Gunners were leading at the time, one of Tomiyasu's yellows was for an incident where he slowed down the flow of the game.