Mikel Arteta issues furious statement on Myles Lewis-Skelly red card and makes FA demand
Mikel Arteta issues furious statement on Myles Lewis-Skelly red card and makes FA demand
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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says that he's still 'absolutely fuming' after defender Myles Lewis-Skelly was shown a controversial red card against Wolves. Lewis-Skelly, 18, was sent off on the brink of half-time after catching Matt Doherty just outside of Wolves' penalty area, with referee Michael Oliver brandishing him a red card. Arsenal's players were stunned by the decision, but they still managed to pull off a crucial 1-0 win, helped by Wolves being reduced to 10 men themselves after Joao Gomes picked up two bookings.
Despite the victory, Arteta was left furious with Oliver's decision. "It is that clear that I leave it to you guys," the Gunners manager told Sky Sports. "I am absolutely fuming but I leave it with you. Because it is that obvious. I don't think my words are going to help.".
Asked if he'd had an explanation from match officials, Arteta replied: "No." On whether Arsenal plan to appeal the red card, he suggested the FA should overturn the decision and said: "That's for the club to decide what the best decision is. I think it's that obvious, maybe we don't even need to. [Lewis-Skelly] is really happy now that the team won and we found a way to win it.".
Goalscorer Riccardo Calafiori was also surprised at the red card, telling Sky: "From the bench, it was clearly not a red card. I saw him at half-time and he was so disappointed for the team. But in the end we won, so nothing happened. He is a good footballer and a good guy, so we help him a lot.".
The Italian defender added: "It's so important to get this win, as you can imagine. But we want to win the next one as well. We want to continue like this... "The strategy was not to put ourselves in a defensive mode. We wanted to try and win the game and we did.".
