Arsenal to appeal David Luiz’s red card
Arsenal will appeal David Luiz’s red card in the club’s 2-1 defeat in the Premier League against Wolves at Molineux on Tuesday, according to Charles Watts of Goal.
The 33-year-old was sent off in the closing stages of the first half after the referee felt the former Chelsea defender fouled Willian Jose in the box.
Replays suggest that the Brazilian did not deliberately make a challenge on Wolves’ new signing and it was the man on loan from Real Sociedad who made contact with Luiz after which he went to ground. The home side were awarded a penalty which was dispatched by Ruben Neves to level the score.
The Gunners had dominated the first half and should have been out of sight before the whistle blew for half-time. Instead, they found themselves level and forced to play the remainder of the match with ten men.
Joao Moutinho scored a wonder goal early in the second half to give Nuno Espirito Santo’s side the lead and the North London club were unable to get back into the game.
In the 72nd minute of the game, Bernd Leno came outside the box to head the ball away but misjudged its flight and ended up handling the ball. He was sent off as a result and this reduced Arsenal to nine men.
Mikel Arteta’s side outplayed Wolves in the first half and will be disappointed with the defeat they suffered at Molineux. Poor refereeing and an inability to convert their first half dominance into a large lead cost them dearly.
The hope is that Luiz’s red card will be overturned and he will be available for the Gunners’ next Premier League game against Aston Villa on Saturday.
Speaking after the game, when asked about David Luiz accidentally making contact with Willian Jose, Arteta said:
“If there’s any contact, it’s him [Willian Jose] with David. That’s what I’ve seen, but I don’t know if they have a different angle of what I have or maybe what you have. That’s where the disappointment is coming from. It’s hard enough to win football matches in the league and those big decisions are like that, but there’s nothing we can change at the moment.”
On whether VAR let him down, he said:
“Well, it was a big decision and if they make and justify that they got it right, I will put my hands up and apologise, but the only thing I’m seeing is that I’m sitting here and I cannot see any contact, and that’s really, really frustrating because it was a big, big moment in the game.”
On whether he plans to appeal Luiz’s red card, he said:
“Well, on my understanding here I wouldn’t say ‘yes, let’s go straight away because I think we have a big chance’. But I don’t know, I will speak to legal and the club and make the best decision of what to do.”
