Hackett Exclusive: Michael Oliver ‘wrong’ in Lewis-Skelly Arsenal controversy
Keith Hackett believes that referee Michael Oliver was “wrong” with the decision to send Myles Lewis-Skelly off for Arsenal against Wolves.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former PGMOL chief, ex-FIFA, and Premier League referee believes that despite the challenge being “reckless,” Oliver should not have sent the youngster off.
The challenge occurred just before half-time, and after an Arsenal corner was defended, Matt Doherty picked up the ball and was ready to launch a counterattack.
Before he managed to get the attack away, Lewis-Skelly tripped the defender in front of the referee to stop the counter.
Oliver then issued a red card to the 18-year-old despite Arsenal’s protests. This is the team’s fourth red card this season, the most of any club in the Premier League.
Keith Hackett adamant this was the wrong call by the Michael Oliver on Arsenal defender vs Wolves
The young Englishman has been key for Arsenal this season, especially following injuries to Riccardo Calafiori. Other options such as Oleksandr Zinchenko have been linked with a move away, with Kieran Tierney touted to re-sign for Celtic.
Lewis-Skelly will be a miss, as Calafiori has just returned from injury, but his goal will give him the confidence to get back into the side as the team won 1-0.
Hackett still made his feelings clear regarding the red card and said:
“Referee Oliver is wrong on this. It is certainly reckless – yellow card. Not serious foul play”.
“Where was VAR on this? Oliver is too close and made poor judgment.”
The serious foul play rule states that: “A tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as serious foul play.
“Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side, or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force or endangers the safety of an opponent, is guilty of serious foul play” [Law 12, via www.thefa.com].
It’s clear that the former PGMOL chief believes that VAR should’ve intervened in this instance, as the challenge was not deemed serious foul play by him.
In other news, Arsenal fans have slammed the club following a Benjamin Sesko transfer update.
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