Wolves0 - 1Arsenal

Arsenal expert Charles Watts cannot picture Michael Oliver taking charge of another Gunners game this season after his controversial decision to send off Myles Lewis-Skelly against Wolverhampton Wanderers, which has now been overturned.

The 18-year-old was given a straight red card by Oliver in Arsenal's 1-0 Premier League win at Molineux for a foul on Matt Doherty, which was adjudged to have amounted to serious foul play by the on-field official.

The VAR room backed up Oliver's decision, but their call was berated by Mikel Arteta, pundits and fans alike, and Arsenal have now succeeded with an appeal to an independent Regulatory Commission.

Lewis-Skelly has therefore seen his three-game ban cancelled, and speaking to Sports Mole, Watts professed that the incident "says a lot" about the PGMOL's apparent inability to "accept responsibility".

"It was utterly baffling. A hundred times, 150 times, you see that foul and wait for the yellow card to come out," Watts said. "And then suddenly he brings out a red card, there was a gasp around the stadium. Normally Wolves fans would celebrate something like that, but it was just a collective gasp of disbelief.

'Lewis-Skelly red says a lot about PGMOL'

"It was just never a red card in a million years. I don't know who I blame more for it, the referee or VAR. Michael Oliver might've seen something in real time that from the angle he was looking at he thought that's a red card decision. But for the VAR to then look at it at multiple angles and still not recommend that he goes to the screen, I don't understand.

"What's the point of VAR if you're not getting involved there? What is the point in having VAR in this country? It was just so, so baffling. I honestly can't believe PGMOL haven't just held their hands up and accepted that they made an error.

"I think if they'd have done that, it would have all quietened down. But the fact they've doubled down on it, I just think it says an awful lot about that organisation and accepting responsibility, which they just don't do."

Oliver - who has allegedly received death threats in the wake of the match - had already been involved in some controversial high-profile decisions against Arsenal, namely sending off Leandro Trossard for kicking the ball away while he was already on a yellow card against Manchester City.

The 39-year-old also took charge of Arsenal's home game with Pep Guardiola's side last season, where a yellow-carded Mateo Kovacic cleaned out Declan Rice but was inexplicably allowed to stay on the field.

Watts: 'How can Oliver referee another Arsenal game?'

PGMOL chief Howard Webb theorised that Oliver - who has handed out eight red cards to Arsenal down the years - did not want to have a "negative impact on the game by overreacting", a little more than a year on from his decision to brandish two yellow cards to Gabriel Martinelli in the same passage of play against Wolves.

"Michael Oliver and Arsenal have got a very chequered history," Watts added. "There was very little trust when it comes to Michael Oliver and Arsenal before this game. And I honestly think there's none now. I don't know how he refs another Arsenal game, certainly for a while anyway.

"We've seen referees taken off certain teams quietly for periods of time. And I think that has to happen now with Arsenal and Michael Oliver because I just don't see any trust there now.

"If anyone's sending abuse to officials or players, then they need their heads checked. But I don't think that can be used to wash over the actual incident and the failings that we saw from the referee and from the process, which we're seeing too often. And I think there's a very genuine debate needed officials, how the VAR system works and how PGMOL operate."

Oliver will be back on the Premier League fields again this weekend, but he has been selected to officiate the bottom-of-the-table battle between 19th-placed Ipswich Town and 20th-placed Southampton.

"Complete and utter lack of trust"

Instead, Peter Bankes will be the man in the middle for Arsenal's home game against Man City on Sunday, and taking Oliver out of the Gunners "spotlight" for the rest of the season is arguably the best solution, Watts believes.

"I do wonder in these last three months of the season, whether it's whether it'd be more sensible to do that," Watts added. "There are other very good refs. Michael Oliver is viewed as one of the top referees. But if you ask any Arsenal fan who the best referees in the country, none of them are going to say Michael Oliver.

"If we've just basically got two referees who can take charge of the biggest games over here, it says an awful lot about the sort of field that we've got to pick from when it comes to top officials. It just happens too much.

"Any other club would feel so aggrieved at some of the decisions Arsenal had to go against them this season. It's not a great situation when there is that complete and utter lack of trust with such a high profile official. And I just feel it might be better for everyone, Michael Oliver as well, if you just take him out the spotlight a little bit."

Arsenal and Lewis-Skelly will be back in action on Wednesday evening against Girona in the Champions League, four days before Man City visit the Emirates in Sunday's Premier League main event.

Press play on the video above to hear the full discussion between Watts and Sports Mole on the Lewis-Skelly incident.

Written by

Ben Knapton