Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off for Arsenal during their Premier League clash against West Ham. The teenager came on at half-time for Riccardo Calafiori – but then departed Emirates Stadium early after VAR intervened to recommend an on-field review by Craig Pawson.
Initially, he was only shown a yellow card, but that decision changed upon a review. The Premier League had to then release a statement explaining the decision, which came via their Match Centre on X (was Twitter).
“VAR checked the referee’s call of yellow card to Lewis-Skelly for a challenge on [Mohammed] Kudus, deeming it denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity due to the goalkeeper’s position and there being no covering defender, therefore recommended an on-field review. The referee then upgraded the yellow to a red card,” it read.
The Gunners were a goal behind when he was dismissed – with their task made that much harder as a result. Mikel Arteta’s men dominated the early stages, but it was Jarrod Bowen who opened the scoring, after he headed home a cross from Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Lewis-Skelly was sent off earlier in the season during Arsenal’s win against Wolves, but that call was, eventually, overturned following an appeal to the PGMOL by Arsenal. Technically, he was still shown a red card which made him the fourth Arsenal player to be dismissed in this campaign.
Declan Rice, Leandro Trossard and William Saliba were all given the same treatment and while all three of those involved some controversy, Lewis-Skelly can really have no complaints. With title rivals Liverpool up against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon, Arsenal have missed their chance to close the gap at the top-flight summit.
