Arsenal suffered a 0-1 defeat at home against West Ham, missing the opportunity to close the gap on Liverpool, who drew against Everton. The situation worsened for Arsenal when Lewis Skelly received a red card.
The match saw Arsenal trailing 1-0 to West Ham, courtesy of a goal by Jarrod Bowen late in the first half. The turning point came in the final 20 minutes when Lewis Skelly was sent off for bringing down Mohammed Kudus as the last defender.
Although Kudus was far from goal, Arsenal’s goalkeeper, David Raya, was also positioned well outside his penalty area. After a review prompted by VAR official Peter Bankes, referee Pawson went to the pitchside monitor and decided to upgrade the yellow card to a straight red.
The Premier League supported the decision to change the card’s color.
In a statement, they explained: “VAR checked the referee’s initial yellow card for Lewis Skelly’s challenge on Kudus and deemed it was a denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity due to the goalkeeper’s position and the absence of a covering defender. Therefore, a review was recommended, leading the referee to upgrade to a red card.”
This red card was Skelly’s second in just a few weeks, as he had previously been sent off in a match against Wolves for a tackle on Matt Doherty, which referee Michael Oliver deemed unacceptable.
Arsenal thus will remain 8 points behind league leaders Liverpool FC.
