ARSENAL fans think they’ve spotted Leandro Trossard making a “hilarious” comment about referee Michael Oliver during the Gunners’ 1-0 win over Wolves on Saturday.
Oliver has been the subject of much chatter since the match after controversially sending off Arsenal youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly.
But it was his first yellow card to Wolves midfielder Joao Gomes that had Trossard passing comment on the Premier League official.
Gomes, who was ultimately sent off for a second yellow card offence in the second half, was booked for delaying the restart in the first half.
And Arsenal star Trossard was quick to try and intervene while the Brazilian protested his innocence to Micheal Oliver.
Gomes was hoping to talk his way out of the booking, but Trossard reminded the 23-year-old that he had suffered the same fate against Man City earlier in the season.
A clip of the Belgian forward appeared to show him saying to Gomes: “That’s what he did to me”.
Trossard was sent off against Man City back in September after receiving a second yellow card for delaying the restart.
Arsenal fans were loving their star’s hark back to the 2-2 draw and reacted on social media.
One wrote: “Funniest thing I’ve seen today”.
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While another added: “Trossard is low-key hilarious”.
A third joked: “He said, ‘welcome to the club bro’.”
And a fourth posted: “I’m still laughing at this clip the next day”.
Oliver would later send off 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly for a trip some 90-yards from the Arsenal box, sparking fury from former players and pundits across the football world.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta claimed he was “fuming” about the decision, but remained calm enough to suggest that he won’t be complaining.
Arteta told reporters that he hopes that an appeal won’t even be necessary and that the PGMOL will overturn the decision themselves as they did with Bruno Fernandes’ red card against Tottenham earlier in the season.
Ian Wright claimed that the refereeing in the Premier League is “nowhere near it” in a video on social media.
While Match of the Day host Mark Chapman claimed the red card was “baffling and nonsensical from supposedly one of our best referees”.
Alan Shearer blasted it as “one of the worst decisions I’ve seen in a long time”
He said: “As a referee, you can get it wrong on the pitch, you might see something which is incorrect.
“How on earth Darren England, the VAR, thinks that the referee has got that right and there is no need to send him to the screen is beyond me.
By Mark Halsey
VAR Darren England should have recommended a review as soon as referee Michael Oliver showed Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly a straight red card for his challenge on Wolves’ Matt Doherty.
An official has to decide whether the challenge was careless or reckless — careless is a free-kick only, reckless is a yellow card — or worthy of a red card.
When a player lunges at an opponent with one or two feet from the front, the side or from the back which endangers the player’s safety with excess force or/and brutality, it must be sanctioned with a red.
I saw it as a reckless challenge worthy of a yellow, not a red.
So why did Darren not recommend a review? Once the red card was shown, the VAR should have intervened.
If Michael had the opportunity to view the challenge again, I’m sure he would have changed his mind, cancelled the red card and issued a yellow.
As for Arsenal fans’ views that Michael is biased against them, I’m not buying into that. You can never question the integrity of a match official and Michael is one of our best referees.
Officials cannot get everything right and that is why we have VAR to help. So questions have to be asked of Darren.
With the second yellow for Joao Gomes after catching Jurrien Timber on the ankle, you could argue that was a worse challenge than the Lewis-Skelly one.
“I just cannot see and work out what VAR is thinking going along with Michael Oliver’s decision. No wonder it gets criticised by so many people.”
And BBC Five Live pundit Pat Nevin said labelling such a challenge serious foul play was setting “a bar so low even a limbo dancing snake couldn’t get under it”.
Even ex-Tottenham star Jamie O’Hara said: “I’m all for Arsenal having a beast but that is never ever a red card, one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen. Jheez lol”.
While the comments on social media from fans went too far, with the PGMOL releasing a statement revealing Oliver had been subject to death threats and “abhorrent abuse”.
It read: “We are appalled by the threats and abuse directed at Michael Oliver following the Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal fixture.
“No official should be subject to any form of abuse, let alone the abhorrent attacks aimed at Michael and his family over the past 24 hours.
“The police are aware, and a number of investigations have commenced. We are supporting Michael, and all those affected, and are determined to tackle this unacceptable behaviour.
“Sadly, this is not the first time a match official has been forced to deal with threats in recent times.
“We will continue to support all investigations.”
IAN WRIGHT has joined the long-list of former professionals and pundits to be left reeling by the decision to send off Arsenal youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly on Saturday.
The cynical challenge left most fans expecting a yellow card, but the Hale End graduate was shown red by referee Michael Oliver instead.
Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Magalhaes led the on-field protests as Arsenal’s players showed their frustration at the decision.
And now Gunners icon Ian Wright has weighed in on the incident, claiming that it’s “never a red”.
In a video posted on social media by the former Premier Legue bagsman, he fumed: “It’s a joke!
“Anyone that has ever played the game, and I’m not even talking Premier League, I’m talking five-a-side, Sunday league, knows that it’s never a red.
“Yellow card, nobody says a word. Time and time again, this level of refereeing [and] the decisions in the Premier League… the inconsistency, the excuses, the apologies.
“All of them are just the centre of attention for me. We can’t criticise too hard because, where are the refs going to come from? Where are we going to get them?
“But I’m sorry, this is the highest level of football and we do not have the highest level of referees. When will the Premier League bring the best refs into the so called ‘best league in the world’?
“Because at the moment, with this level of refereeing, we’re nowhere near it. Nowhere near it.”
A MET Office map reveals Storm Herminia’s wrath with 80mph wind and flash floods rampaging across the UK.
The latest named storm comes after Eowyn killed two people over the weekend and caused major disruption, with some Brits warned to stay indoors.
The national forecaster says the next few days look “set to remain very unsettled”.
An interactive map shows a blanket of rain drenching much of the UK over the next few hours.
A series of yellow warnings for wind and rain have been issued for large parts of England and Wales with more than 40 flood warnings in place.
Parts of Wales and central, southern and northern England are under a 24-hour warning for strong and gusty winds from the same time.
A warning for periods of heavy rain that could cause some flooding of roads and properties was in place for the West Midlands and most of Wales until 11.59pm on Monday with the Met Office predicting 20mm to 40mm to fall quite widely and 50mm to 70mm on higher ground.
Okehampton in Devon had 35.8mm of rain on Sunday, while an 83mph gust was recorded in Berry Head, south Devon, and 81mph in Capelcurig, North Wales.
A yellow wind warning was in place until 7am on Monday for large parts of southern England, the North West, the West Midlands and Yorkshire.
Flooding saw stretches of the A36 and A303 closed in Devon and Wiltshire overnight, while National Rail said services were running normally between Taunton and Castle Cary after flooding.
Most of the 40 flood warnings, where flooding is expected, issued by the Environment Agency cover the south west and south coast, the two warnings issued by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
Scotland is recovering from the effects of Storm Eowyn.
ScotRail said engineers had made “great progress” in removing debris and repairing damage, but several lines were unlikely to reopen for the start of services on Monday.
The Largs to Adrossan line will not reopen on Monday after an overhead gantry was brough down by a falling tree.
Avanti West Coast said services to and from Glasgow and Edinburgh had resumed, but warned of late starts and possible delays on Scottish routes.
Northern Ireland Electricity Networks said around 74,000 customers remained without power at the end of Sunday following Storm Eowyn, while the Northern Powergrid said teams were working to reconnect more than 150 customers overnight.
Ben Lukey, a flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, said: “Although not expected, impacts could include localised flooding from watercourses, drains, channels and flooding from overland flow.
A wet and windy spell arrived in the South West on Sunday morning and was moving across the north of the UK overnight.
Met Office meteorologist Marco Petagna said: “Things are going to stay unsettled in the next few days. We’re getting successive spells of wet and windy weather, which is obviously adding to impacts
While not as powerful as Storm Eowyn, a low-pressure system was named Storm Herminia by meteorologists in Spain which was expected to feel the strongest winds.
Today:
Showers or longer spells of rain across most areas. Showers turning heavy at times in the south with a chance of thunder, plus hill snow in the north. Strong, gale-force winds continuing in the south, and temperatures around average.
Tonight:
Showers and longer spells of rain continue overnight. Gales in the southwest slowly easing, but winds picking up in the far north. A patchy frost forming in the northwest.
Tuesday:
Further heavy showers in the south with a risk of thunder. Longer spells of rain in the northwest, but easing later. Strong winds at first, and temperatures around average.
Outlook for Wednesday to Friday:
Remaining wet and windy in the south on Wednesday. Becoming more settled for all on Thursday and Friday. Temperatures near the seasonal average, but chilly at night.
THE former partner of a “kind-hearted” gran-of-five found “attacked” in the street has appeared in court charged with her murder.
Claire Chick, 48, was discovered seriously injured in Plymouth, Devon, on Wednesday evening.
Tragically she could not be saved and was declared dead in hospital the following morning.
Her ex-partner Paul Butler appeared at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court today charged with her murder.
Claire’s family were in court as Butler, 53, was remanded into custody following a short hearing.
He has been ordered to appear before a crown court on January 28.
A further hearing has also been fixed for March 3.
District Judge Stuart Smith told Butler: “These matters are going to be sent to the crown court.
“You will be committed into custody. You will have a hearing tomorrow at the crown court where a crown court judge will consider your remand status further.”
Claire, previously known as Claire Butler, worked as a lecturer at the University of Plymouth.
She was found seriously injured in West Hoe Road, Plymouth, at around 8.55pm on Wednesday.
Claire was rushed to hospital from the scene, but died of her injuries in the early hours of the following morning.
In a moving tribute released by police, her family said they were “devastated and broken”.
They added: “She was the most beautiful lively soul and was there for everyone.
“Everyone who knew our mum had so much positive words to say about her. She was the life and soul of any place where she was.
“She loved to dance and sing, even though she was pretty bad at it; she had no shame in doing it in front of any audience.
“We will never get over this as a family, she was our glue and our go-to.
“We won’t ever get the justice our mum deserves for this, because no amount of justice will bring her back.”
Vice-chancellor Professor Richard Davies said the university was “shocked and saddened” by Claire’s death.
He said: “Having spoken with Claire’s colleagues, I know that her contribution to Plymouth was significant and deeply felt – she was a respected nurse, lecturer and personal tutor, ensuring students were supported academically and pastorally.
“As associate head of school for international in our school of nursing and midwifery, she was closely involved in developing nursing programmes, students and academics in Europe, Africa and Asia.
“As a colleague, Claire’s humour and warmth will be dearly missed by academic and support staff.”
