Wolves 0–1 Arsenal
by Layth Yousif
at Molineux

RICCARDO CALAFIORI’S superb 74th minute strike was enough to hand a vital victory to 10-player Arsenal on a controversial Saturday afternoon at Molineux.

The Gunners’ Italian defender fired past Jose Sa, to give Mikel Arteta’s side three points against Vitor Pereira’s side, who were also reduced to 10, after another dreadful display by referee Michael Oliver.

Oliver had once again chosen to put himself in the headlines with an appalling decision to send off Myles Lewis-Skelly two minutes before the break.

Oliver’s shocking straight red card for Arsenal’s precocious teenager marred this match, not least because it was completely and utterly incorrect. Amplified by VAR, Darren England’s bizarre decision not to overrule his on-pitch colleague.

With the teams about to head into the half-time interval goalless, the home side broke on the edge of their own box, leaving Lewis-Skelly to bring down Wolves’ Matt Doherty about 10 yards from the edge of Sa’s area.

Instead of simply warning the youngster, or even handing out a caution, Oliver simply couldn’t wait to reach for the red card burning a hole in his back pocket, to give a dreadful decision – one that could be added to his litany of awful decisions given to Arsenal at this ground.

Not least when Oliver handed Gabi Martinelli two yellow cards in the space of two seconds in the same move, back in 2022, something that had never been done before, or after.

You can be sure that Oliver’s latest red card for an Arsenal player will not be repeated in any Premier League game for the rest of the season.

No wonder the 3,000 travelling Arsenal supporters along the Molineux touchline chorused in disgust: “Michael Oliver/It’s all about you.”

Quite simply Oliver’s decision so nearly put paid to the Gunners’ already-distant hopes of winning the Premier League title.

No wonder an incandescent Arteta fumed about the red card afterwards: “I think it’s that obvious, we don’t need any comments today and hopefully the right thing will happen after today.”

In further bad news, the visitors also suffered a pre-match blow when captain Martin Odegard was ruled out with a bug, and sent home from the team hotel in Wolverhampton, while Mikel Merino was benched.

The rare bright spot for the visitors was that William Saliba and Lewis-Skelly — but not for long — returned to Arteta’s starting XI.

Under a cloudless bright blue sky, on nine minutes Wolves’ Pablo Serabia fired over with a thunderous volley that narrowly failed to beat Gunners’ keeper David Raya. A dramatic effort that would have brought the house down had it been a yard or two lower, as a packed Molineux roared its approval under a gloriously sunny midwinter’s day.  

In an open start, Kai Havertz headed narrowly wide on 18 minutes, when latching onto Leandro Trossard’s deep cross into the box.

Shortly afterwards, in a pointed message to chairman Guo Guangchang in rare attendance, Wolves fans broke into a booming chorus of “Back the team or sell the club.”

Amid the discontent, Trossard again provided an excellent cross for Havertz, whose header was saved by an alert Jose Sa.

Then came Lewis-Skelly’s farcical sending off, that led to the lively Nwaneri being brought off at half time, sacrificed in favour of the matchwinner, Calafiori.

Oliver’s decision to send off Arsenal’s teenager was matched by the official opting to send off Joao Gomes for two yellow cards — when it proved to be another poor decision as the player’s foot was well above Jurrien Timber’s ankle, and could have led to a serious injury.

As the clock ticked down, Gunners’ keeper Raya foiled Matheus Cunha’s deflected header, as well as Hee-Chan Hwang’s low drive, as the Gunners show grit, determination and character to hang on and post a vital triumph, despite Oliver’s appalling refereeing.

Delighted with his team’s resolve, Arteta added: “I’m extremely proud of all the players. You can talk about our courage, you can talk about the spirit, but as well about intelligence. The way they managed the game emotionally, it was unbelievable.”