Mikel Arteta demands explanation for Gabriel Martinelli's strange red card during Wolves win

• Gabriel Martinelli was sent off in the 69th minute in bizarre fashion during Arsenal’s clash away at Wolves
• The Gunners had to play more than 20 minutes with 10 men, but hang on for the win that lifted them to fifth place
• Arteta said after the game that he needed an explanation from match officials on how and why Martinelli was shown successive yellow cards

Mikel Arteta says he needs an explanation for the red card Gabriel Martinelli received on Thursday, February 10 during Arsenal’s Premier League encounter with Wolverhampton.

Referee Michael Oliver delivered one of the strangest red cards, sending off Martinelli with two successive yellow cards.

With slightly over 20 minutes to go, Martinelli miscontrolled the ball and saw it run out of play, then proceeded to push Wolves’ Daniel Podence as he attempted to take the resulting throw-in.

Michael Oliver let the play go on because Podence’s quick throw-in somehow reached Chiquinho, who was now running at the Arsenal defence in a promising attack.

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But Chiquinho was charged down by Martinelli, who pushed him to the ground in an obvious foul, and the referee brandished a yellow card, lifting it twice whole pointing to the throw-in incident as he sent the Brazilian off in bizarre scenes.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the game, Arteta said he has never witnessed anything like it in his 18 years in English football.

"I've never seen that. I've been 18 years in this country and I've never seen something like it,” Arteta said.

"We made it even more difficult for ourselves playing with 10 men. We suffered a lot in the last 10 minutes.

“I think you have to be pretty willing to give a red card in that situation. But that’s a conversation that I will have with the officials privately. I will need explanation with things that happen with VAR and I will need an explanation of what happened today.”

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The Gunners’ torrid red card record

Arsenal has been synonymous with red cards since Mikel Arteta took charge of the club in December 2019.

Since that time, Arsenal players have received a total of 15 red cards, which is seven more than any Premier League side.

In 2022, Arsenal has already received four red cards, including Martinelli’s sending off.

Interestingly, Bruno Lage was also critical of Michael Oliver for allowing Gabriel’s goal to stand.

According to the Wolves boss, striker Alexandre Lacazzette hit goalkeeper Jose Sa’s hand in the build-up to the goal.

“They celebrated like they won the title"

Meanwhile, Ruben Neves openly criticized the manner in which Arsenal celebrated their 1-0 win at the Molineaux.

And right after the final blast of the whistle, the Gunners went haywire as they celebrated the crucial three points, which seems to have infuriated Neves.

"We saw the way they celebrated the win and that shows the level we are. I didn't see Arsenal celebrating like this in the past 10 years - it was like they won the league."

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