Arsenal defender Myles Lewis-Skelly escaped a “very clear” second yellow card and should have been sent off during the 7-1 thrashing of PSV in the Champions League, according to a former Premier League referee. The Gunners recorded the biggest ever away win in the knockout stages of this tournament in Eindhoven with six different players on the scoresheet. But Lewis-Skelly suffered some slight personal disappointment as he was brought off on 35 minutes.
Lewis-Skelly was booked for a foul on Luuk de Jong 10 minutes earlier and the home crowd inside the Phillips Stadium was baying for a second after the Englishman brought down Richard Ledezma. Referee Jesus Gil Manzano showed restraint and did not issue another yellow with the defender then withdrawn after Mikel Merino made it 3-0 en route to a humiliating scoreline.
But former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official Keith Hackett told Football Insider post-match: “We witnessed here, a little bit of inconsistent officiating. I thought the first yellow to Lewis-Skelly was a little weak, but then, having got that yellow, he commits a very clear yellow card offence by bringing his opponent down, stopping a very promising attack, for which he should have then walked.
“He didn’t, but his manager was alert, had seen what had happened, and rightly subbed him. That maintained the 11 players on the field of play for the remainder of the game. Well done to Arteta for bringing Lewis-Skelly off, if the referee was consistent, he would have been shown the red.”
Lewis-Skelly has already had two red cards in 12 Premier League matches for Arsenal. But the 18-year-old later saw one of those dismissals, against Wolves, overturned after an appeal. More recently he was sent off against West Ham and missed the goalless draw at Nottingham Forest last week.
He will also be unavailable for matches against Manchester United and Chelsea, though academy graduate player – who is naturally a midfielder who has been moved into a left-back role – is likely to face PSV again next week at the Emirates.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said post-match in Eindhoven: “When we talk about boxes in the Champions League, how important they are, today is one of the great examples. I’m so happy for the boys because the last two games we haven’t scored and there’s been a lot of noise around it.
“To be able to put in that performance and score the goals we did tonight, very impressive.” On Lewis-Skelly he added: “I haven’t seen the second action but when there is so much noise as well, you play away from home, I didn’t want to take any risk. The game could change immediately.
“He’s very young so we have to protect him.” Shown the replay of the incident, Arteta batted it away and laughed: “Let’s talk about the game!”
