Mikel Arteta has demanded the red card shown to Myles Lewis-Skelly is overturned after the Arsenal boss was left ‘absolutely fuming’ with his dismissal during their 1-0 win over Wolves.
The 18-year-old was shown a red card in the 43rd minute after catching Matt Doherty on the edge of the Wolves 18-yard area as the hosts began to launch a counter-attack.
Michael Oliver gave the youngster his marching orders, much to the shock of the Arsenal players who protested furiously. Arteta was also spotted by TV cameras questioning the decision.
VAR official Jared Gillett confirmed that the on-field decision would stand as the official agreed it satisfied the criteria for ‘serious foul play’.
But an incredulous Arteta refused to even dignify questions about the red card with an answer, only to let the media know that he was furious with the decision.
“It is that clear that I leave it to you guys. I am absolutely fuming,” Arteta told Sky Sports.
“But I leave it with you because it is that obvious. I don’t think my words are going to help.”
Lewis-Skelly faces a one-game suspension if the Football Association decided not to overturn the red card, or if Arsenal opt against appealing the decision.
The Premier League released a statement shortly after the red card was brandished, explaining the official reason behind the teenager’s dismissal.
The statement appeared on its official Match Centre account on X (formerly Twitter), which read: “The referee’s call of a red card for Lewis-Skelly was checked and confirmed by VAR, who deemed his challenge to have been serious foul play.”
When asked if Arsenal would be lodging an appeal, the 42-year-old claimed the north London club shouldn’t need to – inferring that the officials got it wrong.
“Well hopefully we don’t need to,” Arteta said.
Despite going down to 10 men for the entire second half, Arsenal not only weathered the storm but continued to dominate play at Molineux. Kai Havertz squandered a hat-trick of headed chances up front while Declan Rice and Gabriel Martinelli saw their efforts turned away by Jose Sa.
But it fell to substitute Riccardo Calafiori, who replaced Ethan Nwaneri at the half-time interval, who provided the winner with a stunning drive into the corner on 74 minutes.
And Arsenal held on to take all three points away to keep the pressure on leaders Liverpool, and Arteta declared that he was delighted with their response: “It’s incredible what the boys did again.
“In the context that we were thrown in again, it was about character, personality of the team, courage and intelligence to play the game we wanted to play. It was exceptional.”
