Arsenal hit with FA charge for surrounding referee after Lewis-Skelly red card | OneFootball

Arsenal have been slapped with an FA charge for surrounding the referee in their game against Wolves earlier this month.

The Gunners won the game 1-0 but Myles Lewis-Skelly was controversially sent off during the first half, a decision which was later overturned meaning he will not serve a suspension.

But the FA have now announced they have charged the club with improper conduct.

“Arsenal FC has been charged after its players surrounded a match official during their Premier League fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers FC on Saturday, 25 January,” the Football Association said in a statement.

“The club allegedly failed to ensure that its players did not behave in an improper manner around the 43rd minute. Arsenal FC has until Monday, 3 February, to provide a response.”

The decision to send off Lewis-Skelly despite the intervention of VAR was widely criticised, and an independent panel later confirmed the decision was the wrong one.

“The commission members were unanimous in their opinion that the referee had made an obvious error in sending off [Lewis-Skelly] for the challenge that he had made.

“The challenge was certainly ‘Foul Play’ but it obviously could not, to the mind of the commission, be categorised as having been ‘Serious Foul Play’.

“[Lewis-Skelly] had stepped across his opponent and tripped him up, possibly deliberately, but in doing so he had obviously not endangered the safety of his opponent or used excessive force or brutality, nor had he ‘lunged’ in at his opponent.”

Following the reaction to Lewis-Skelly’s red card, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville criticised Arsenal fans.

The former Manchester United player accused supporters of being “entitled” and claimed they have “exaggerated” their response to refereeing decisions.

He said: “I just feel like every time Arsenal have a decision against them and it was a bad decision, but I feel like the exaggeration in the response… maybe it was the same with Manchester United back in the day and that’s why people didn’t like us and maybe that’s what Arsenal are creating now, that siege mentality and Mikel Arteta likes that.”