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What Ian Wright immediately thought after seeing Myles Lewis-Skelly’s tackle in Arsenal vs Wolves

Charles Jones

Tue 28 January 2025 10:45, UK

Arsenal beat Wolves at the weekend, but the main headlines coming away from the game were around the refereeing performance on the day.

Michael Oliver decided to send Myles Lewis-Skelly off for what simply seemed to be a cynical trip 80 yards from goal, and, as you can imagine, Arsenal fans have been up in arms since this incident.

Speaking on the , Ian Wright has been discussing this incident, and he’s shared his verdict on this red card.

The pundit says that he immediately thought to himself that this was a clever yellow card for Lewis-Skelly to take, claiming that he was shocked when the red card was produced.

Wright then complained about the lack of accountability around these refereeing decisions at the moment, claiming that the PGMOL will defend their referee and claim that this was a correct decision.

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Ian Wright reacts to Myles Lewis-Skelly red card

Wright shared his opinion on the controversial refereeing decision at the weekend.

The pundit was not happy with this call, claiming that he thought this was a poor decision.

Chris Sutton criticised this decision at the weekend too, while Arsenal are trying to appeal this call.

“No, it wasn’t it was a yellow card, and when he did it Kelly I even said ‘good yellow, take one for the team.; So when he went off again I thought it won’t make any difference because there will be no accountability for it,” Wright said.

“They will just twist it with their words the PGMOL and say it’s the letter of the law. When it happens as often as it does with Arsenal and their fans you can understand why they feel aggrieved by it. They’re going to feel like why is it always us and why are we still getting this guy on our games.”

Michael Oliver’s history against Arsenal

Wright didn’t mince his words here, he made a direct point towards Michael Oliver and the fact that he’s caused Arsenal problems on more than one occasion in recent years.

Indeed, Oliver and Arsenal have a history of these dodgy refereeing decisions, and, it’s easy to understand why Arsenal fans are getting frustrated here.

Oliver’s record when refereeing Arsenal games does paint an interesting picture, it must be said as he’s dished out more red cards for Arsenal than any other club.

Of course, there is no suggestion that Oliver is doing this on purpose, but there is now a growing tension among the fanbase, and his decisions are coming under that much more scrutiny.

So, what is the answer? Perhaps Oliver shouldn’t referee any more Arsenal games for a little while.

Indeed, we’ve seen referees kept away from certain teams in the past. Chris Kavaanagh didn’t referee a Fulham game for almost two years after controversially sending off Willian and Aleksandar Mitrovic in an FA Cup game against Manchester United.

Oliver isn’t purposefully making bad decisions against Arsenal, but, perhaps it’s best off taking him out of the firing line for a little while.