The 10 men from Arsenal overcome the 12, and then 11, of Wolves to keep their title challenge alive with a winner of Riccardo Calafiori.
2024/2025 Premier League
0-1
- Lewis-Skelly (43 ')
- Calafiori (74 ')
Match report
That is how it should feel for Mikel Arteta, his players, every Goooner and the most impartial observers after referee Michael Oliver has seen one of the worst decisions ever.
Oliver confirmed his status as the least favorite official of Arsenal when he sent Myles Lewis-Skelly in the first half.
Against all common sense, Oliver ruled the cynical journey of the teenager on Matt Doherty 30 meters from the goal of Wolves to be violent behavior.
Somehow leaves the call.
But the Arteta team has channeled their anger. And shortly after Oliver had made 10 V 10 of it by sending Wolves -midfielder Joao Gomes away for a second yellow card, Calafiori scored what a vital goal could be.
The Italian had emerged during the break to replace Lewis-Skelly on the left, so it felt like a kind of justice that he hit the ball neatly after Nelson Semedo's bad header of a Gabriel Martinelli Cross.
But the Arsenal fans who abused Oliver and accused him of making the game all over him will not forget his last intervention.
Oliver and Arsenal have history.
On the same land in February 2022, the referee Gabriel Martinelli booked twice in a row for blocking a complex and then immediately committed an error.
Then earlier in this campaign he showed Leandro Trossard a second yellow card against Manchester City for kicking the ball.
But this was perhaps the worst decision of all and could have turned out to be so expensive for the Gunners.
Arteta had enough problems anyway.
He welcomed William Saliba and Ethan Nwaneri back for their first starts since injury, but was without captain Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino.
The Spaniard had picked up a non -specific knock, while Odegaard had been sent back to London due to illness after he traveled to the West Midlands with the team.
Wolves started nervously at the back and almost presented the arsenal with opportunities to score.
Yet it was the home team who first threatened.
The attack by Captain Nelson Semedo Left and Cross earned better than Pablo Sarabia who volleyed the ball over the Lat.
Then it was all Arsenal.
Leandro Trossard sent seductive crosses for Kai Havertz twice. The German sent his first header wide, but seemed to have had the second right side, to let him go back over Jose Sa.
But the keeper of the Wolves kept the ball outside with his right leg, probably more because of happiness than judgment.
Nwaneri wasted a good view of the goal of a free kick 20 meters further, but little more happened to Oliver's moment of madness.
While Wolves tried to break after a poor Declan Rice Corner, Lewis-Skelly Matt Doherty brought down about 30 meters with a cynical journey.
Yellow card, all day long.
Not in the world of Oliver. From the red and Arsenal became ballistic.
There was no way in which Lewis-Skelly had denied a goal core chance, even without taking into account it was doherty that was polluted.
Yet the explanation of the PGMOL was that the young Arsenal star Wasa was guilty of serious false game just nonsense. The challenge was not high, nor was their excessive strength or serious danger to doherty.
Var Darren England should have told Oliver to think again. But England was the man who was guilty of the worst mistake with the technology in the Premier League history, when he and his team did not succeed in correcting an offside against Luis Diaz of Liverpool in the match against Tottenham in September 2023.
Jurrien Timber was booked for his protests and the road fans let Oliver know exactly what they thought of him. You could only have sympathy.
Arteta sent Riccardo Calafiori for Nwaneri during the break to reinstall his team.
The supporters of Arsenal soon sang: “Michael Oliver, it's all about you”.
Their team was briefly challenging, wolves immersed after the break and rice Stagde Stagde Stagde with a rasphot.
On the other hand, Hwang Hee-Chan, who had replaced the wounded Jorgen Strand Larsen in the first half, tested David Raya with an attempt from a distance.
Then Sarabia could only distract a cross wide. It became stuff end to the end.
Havertz led a rice -free staircase over the bar and then Raya made an acrobatic stop from Matheus Cunha.
And from the resulting corner, the alleged Arsenal target white Cunha could only shoot wide when the ball fell on him just outside the six-year box.
Then it became interesting. Joao Gomes polluted wood unnecessarily in the arsenal criminal area and received a second yellow card. 10 V 10, Game very up.
The inevitable happened quickly.
Martinelli curled into a cross and the header of Semedo fell to Calafiori, who handed it in the half volley with the kind of balance that you did not expect from a defender.
The Arsenal players ran to celebrate with Arteta, his back room team and the replacements, all knowing how important it was a goal.
It felt like Wolves had blown their chance, and that's how it proved.
Rayan Ait-Nouri burst through during the break, but Raya came out to make a considerable save.
The Arsenal goalkeeper has easily treated a Cunha effort.
And the Gunners pulled off a op-and-modds, against the victory of the deleted who could still inspire them to overhaul Liverpool leaders.
Match -Events
0 'The game is about to start!
9 'Jose Sa gets almost the ball grew by Havertz
10 'Saravia Volleys from the penalty area and kicks high
13 'Rice makes too many adjustments and is disturbed by defenders
19 'Havertz's Header Wide Out
24 'What a salvation from Jose Sa!
26 'Martinelli goes into a box, but REF says no wrong
32 'Hwang replaces the wounded Larsen
39 'Nwaneri left shot from outside the box is blocked
43 'Red card! Myles Lewis-Skelly sent
46 'Replacement: Calafiori stands up for Nwaneri
52 'Gabriel Magalhães (Arsenal) wins a free kick on the left wing
53 'rice on the right shot from the right side of the box is stored
61 'Sarabia Left Scot from the right side of the box Mist on the left
62 'Havertz header from very close by is just a little too high
63 'Cunha on the right shot from the center of the box is close by
70 'second yellow card to João Gomes for a bad mistake
74 'Calafiori Shot to the right corner! Wolves 0-1 Arsenal
85 'Aït-Nouri Left Scot from the left side of the box is stored
Line-ups
Wolves XI: Sarabia, Doherty, Semedo, Jose Sa, Santiago Bueno, Jørgen Strand Larsen, Matheus Cunha, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Emmanuel Aggbadou, João Gomes, André
Subs: Dawson, Sam Johnstone, Guedes, Hwang Hee-Chan, Jean-Omner Bellegarde, Doyle, Toti Gomes, Rodrigo Gomes, Pedro Lima
Arsenal XI: Trossard, Partey, David Raya, Rice, Gabriel, Havertz, Martinelli, Saliba, Timber, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly
Subs: Neto, Sterling, Jorginho, Zinchenko, Tierney, Kiwior, Calafiori, N. Butler-Oyedeji, Jack Porter
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