Ian Wright has lamented the state of Premier League officiating after Myles Lewis-Skelly was controversially sent off by Michael Oliver during Arsenal’s win against Wolves.
The 18-year-old Lewis-Skelly became the third youngest player to be dismissed in Premier League history when he was shown a straight red card by Michael Oliver in the first half for taking down Matt Doherty in his own half.
The decision has been met with disbelief by pundits, with Alan Shearer calling it “one of the worst decisions that I’ve seen in a long time”.
Arteta said he was too ‘fuming’ to comment on it, but wants the decision overturned in the same way Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes was let off following a red card against Tottenham earlier in the season.
‘I am absolutely fuming but I leave it with you,’ he said. ‘I think it is that obvious that we don’t need any comment today and hopefully the right thing will happen.
‘Hopefully we don’t need to (appeal the decision) and if we have to, there is a really good precedent, what happened with Bruno this season as well.
‘OK, we were in a position that we shouldn’t be in, at least let’s be in a position that we should be in for the next few weeks and allow that player to continue to his job.’
It is far from the only controversial decision that has gone against Arsenal over the course of a turbulent season and club legend Wright believes the standard of officiating needs addressing urgently.
‘It’s a joke,’ said Wright on Instagram. ‘Anyone who has ever played the game, and I’m not even talking Premier League, 5-a-side, Sunday League, they know it’s never a red.
‘Yellow card and nobody says a word. Time and time again this level of refereeing the decisions in the Premier League, the inconsistency, the excuses, the apologies. All of them are the centre of attention for me.
‘We can’t criticise too hard because otherwise where are the referees going to come from. Where are we going to get them?
‘But I’m sorry. This is the highest level of football and we do not have the highest level of referees.
‘When will the Premier League bring the best referees into the so called best league in the world. At the moment with this level of refereeing we’re nowhere near it.’