Alonso pays the price

One wonders whether common sense has been lost following Xabi Alonso's sending off.

The Spanish midfielder was harshly dismissed by referee Steve Bennett after collecting a second booking for crashing into Mathieu Flamini after losing his footing.

Alonso was skating on thin ice after being booked minutes earlier for catching Cesc Fabregas, but his second challenge did not warrant earning another yellow.

The skilful midfielder tried to chase down his loose pass to Robbie Fowler although in attempting to close down Flamini he slipped and fell into the midfielder.

Alonso attempted to apologise to Flamini, but Philippe Senderos believed his actions were deliberate and called for Bennett to give the midfielder his marching orders.

Arsenal have already been called into question this week over their lack of home-grown players and Senderos' actions hardly gives a good impression of foreign imports.

A game at Highbury a number of years ago involved David Seaman bringing down Robbie Fowler in the penalty area only for the striker to inform the official it was not a penalty.

Fair play and respect for fellow professionals also appears to be disappearing from the game as Alonso's protests to Bennett fell on deaf ears. 

Bennett, much to Alonso's dismay, produced a second yellow card leaving Liverpool to see out the remainder of the contest a man light.

Anyone at the ground or watching the game on Sky could clearly see Alonso had no intention of bringing down Flamini - yet he still saw red.

Tackle aside, Alonso's character should also come into consideration being a player without a red card to his name in England following his move from La Liga.

The red card changed the game, although a poor decision from Steven Gerrard left Thierry Henry with just Jose Reina to beat after seizing on a woeful back pass.

Liverpool had fought back superbly with Luis Garcia cancelling out Henry's first half opener, although they left Highbury with nothing following Henry's late winner.