Mikel Arteta will not be able to select Myles Lewis-Skelly for Arsenal’s Premier League trip to Nottingham Forest this week.
The teenager was sent off after bringing down Mohammed Kudus and preventing a clear goal-scoring opportunity in the second half of Saturday’s 1-0 loss to West Ham. Initially the left-back was given a yellow card by referee Craig Pawson but following a VAR review, the youngster was shown a straight red.
“I haven’t seen it back but honestly, I will focus on what we have to do,” Arteta said after the game. “I don’t know if the decision was right or wrong, I haven’t seen it, I don’t want to evaluate it, but a lot of the things that we should have done better today, it wasn’t.”
Lewis-Skelly will now miss Wednesday’s clash at the City Ground, with Arsenal needing to win to keep any sort of pressure on Liverpool in the title race. Luckily for Arteta, he does have a handful of options available to him when it comes to replacements. football.london takes a look at the players who could come into the side in place of the Englishman.
Riccardo Calafiori
For many, Calafiori is the most obvious replacement. The Italian did not have the best of times against West Ham, though, and was brought off after 56 minutes. The left-back has had injury issues himself this season and has struggled to find rhythm during his time in north London.
The 22-year-old has made 22 appearances this campaign and has, in all, had a decent debut season at Emirates Stadium. His best position still needs to be established though with the former Bologna man also a decent centre-back.
