Myles Lewis-Skelly is sent off
Lewis-Skelly was sent off in the first half for Arsenal
Jurrien Timber said the Gunners didn’t want to make a point after the red card controversy at Molineux. They just wanted to take all three.
Any moans and groans were parked at half-time as Mikel Arteta and his men sifted through the wreckage of what appeared to be a fatal decision.
Leandro Trossard makes Michael Oliver anger clear in reaction spotted on camera
Arsenal will leave it to the authorities to decide if referee Michael Oliver’s decision to send off Myles Lewis-Skelly for tripping Matt Doherty should be overturned.
But they had no redress at the interval. However, it did concentrate the visitors’ minds. Timber said: “It’s bizarre. When you are in games there are a lot of things happening. I didn’t expect a red card.
“You don’t always agree with the decisions but, in the end, you just have to accept them and go. You have to react. It’s the only thing you have in your hands. You can’t keep talking about it. So, we didn’t at half time.
“The manager told us that we needed to have courage going into the second half. That we would have to sacrifice a lot because it was going to be hard with ten men. Wolverhampton away is a tough match.
“It’s not nice to go into the second half like this. But it is what it is. We showed character. That’s what we needed. We didn’t want to prove a point, we wanted to take all three.
“That’s it. We were ten men. We felt like we deserved it. We were still trying to control the game. We did that. We pushed forward. We took our momentum and took the three points.”
Arsenal started their campaign with three dismissals in their opening eight games.
Declan Rice saw red for delaying the re-start against Brighton, picking up a second caution. It was a similar story for Leandro Trossard at Manchester City while William Saliba was dismissed for dragging down Evanilson at Bournemouth.
This was different. However, although those incidents were regrettable, they at least gave the Gunners an inkling of how to push on. And that’s exactly what they did. The visitors emerged with a renewed sense of vigour, taking the game to Wolves.
They were helped by Joao Gomes’s two rash moments. He was booked for kicking the ball away in the first-half. Wolves boss Vitor Pereira told the Brazil international to ‘be careful’ after the break. He wasn’t watchful enough and a lunge at Timber saw him dismissed.
Perhaps the Portuguese should have headed that one off and substituted the midfielder who was walking a tightrope after also committing a couple of fouls in the opening 45 minutes. Following his dismissal, the air of optimism evaporated quickly.
Riccardo Calafiori produced what the Dutchman described as ‘a striker’s finish’ to convert in the final quarter after Nelson Semedo headed clear Gabriel Martinell’s right-wing cross. Timber added: “It’s not the first time it’s happened to us.
Leandro Trossard makes Michael Oliver anger clear in reaction spotted on camera
“It’s still hard but on the other side we also know how to deal with it now. We’ve been through a lot this season. But we would never not fight. This is the character of the team. Our defence showed we are a team – and we are not easy to beat.
“And we gained energy. Games like this give you that. The way the fans reacted to the red card – it got us going.”
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