Arsenal: Ex-PGMOL chief reveals his verdict on ‘very clear’ Myles Lewis-Skelly red card incident

A former head of the PGMOL has explained why Arsenal defender Myles Lewis-Skelly “should have walked” during his side’s emphatic win against PSV Eindhoven.

Arsenal earned their biggest-ever away Champions League win on Tuesday night, beating Dutch outfit PSV 7-1. Martin Odegaard netted a brace and was joined on the scoresheet by five teammates.

This was a huge shock, as the Gunners have struggled in front of goal this season and have only scored two goals in their previous four matches in all competitions.

It remains to be seen whether this one-sided victory is purely a freak result preceding more attacking difficulties in the Premier League, potentially starting at Old Trafford on Sunday, as Arsenal sit fifth in our 2024/25 open-play goals table.

But Mikel Arteta‘s side are at least assured of a spot in the Champions League quarter-finals with a tie against Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid coming up.

Arsenal’s 7-1 win against PSV was not without a concerning moment, though. Myles Lewis-Skelly was subbed after 35 minutes after he was fortunate to avoid a red card.

The teenager was booked in the 24th minute and was lucky not to be shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Richard Ledezma a couple of minutes later.

Speaking post-match, Arteta explained his decision to take Lewis-Skelly off before half-time.

“I haven’t seen the second action,” Arteta said.

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“But when there is so much noise as well, you play away from home, I didn’t want to take any risk.”

Former PGMOL chief Keith Hackett has broken down why the left-back “should have walked”.

“We witnessed here, a little bit of inconsistent officiating,” Hackett told Football Insider.

“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.”

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He continued: “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.”

Arteta also lauded Arsenal’s performance against PSV on a “special night”.

“Thank you because it was a special night,” Arteta said. “It’s obviously given us a lot of joy and confidence and belief. In football, it’s not what we did three days ago or today, it’s going to be what we do tomorrow.

“We go to Old Trafford; how we behave, how we play and are we able to win a game. That’s it, enjoy tonight because it was a very impressive performance and an unbelievable score. We deserve that and I’ll take it and keep improving as a team.”

On setting the record, he added: “It’s something that hasn’t been done, so it’s great to be part of that.

“But as a team, we want to achieve many other things that are far more important than that. The happiest I am is because we are in a very strong position to go to the next round, which is where we want to be.”