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Premier League confirm controversial Arsenal vs Wolves referee decision amid Mikel Arteta fury

The Premier League have confirmed who will will referee Wolves vs Arsenal
-Credit:(Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images)


The Premier League have announced the match officials set to oversee Arsenal's clash away at Wolves this weekend. The Gunners travel to Molineux for their first 3pm Saturday game in over a month with the view of building on a strong Champions League triumph over Dinamo Zagreb.

Goals from Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard sealed an important 3-0 win, which confirmed Arsenal will go straight into the competition's last-16. Focus now returns back to the Premier League with Arsenal in action away at Wolves as leaders Liverpool take on Ipswich Town at Anfield.

Vitor Pereira's side are in a difficult patch with Matheus Cunha, who is of interest to Arsenal, and Mario Lemina are strongly linked to January exits. Nottingham Forest are also interested in Cunha, while the Gunners are also weighing up a move for RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko.

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No new signing is expected to arrive before the Wolves clash; however, Arteta could be forced to utilise the options already at his disposal. William Saliba is still dealing with an injury, but Ethan Nwaneri and Riccardo Calafiori returned to the matchday squad on Wednesday evening.

A front three of Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli is expected to be deployed, with the latter impressing in the absence of Bukayo Saka. It is worth noting, however, that the Brazil international does have some bad experiences away to Wolves after being sent off by Michael Oliver nearly three years ago.

While it is slim, there is a chance of that scenario being repeated with Oliver confirmed as the referee for the match between Arsenal and Wolves. As per the Premier League's official website, he will be joined on the day by Stuart Burt, James Mainwaring and Tony Harrington, with Darren England and Adrian Holmes on VAR at Stockley Park.

Arteta was left far from impressed by Martinelli's sending off in this exact fixture, with the 23-year-old shown two yellow cards in a matter of seconds, one for attempting to delay the restart and the other for committing a cynical foul.

"To be fair, it’s the first time I’ve seen a red card like this in 18 years that I’ve been in this league," Arteta said after the game. "I think you have to be pretty willing to give a red card in that situation. But still it happened. If you ask me if I’m happy with the decisions we’ve had this season, I’m not at all.

"But that’s a conversation I will have privately with the officials. We need explanations, we need explanations with what happened in VAR and I need explanations with what happened today."

For a more recent example, Oliver gave Trossard his marching orders in the 2-2 draw against Manchester City earlier this season with Arteta again angered by the decision. "I prefer not to comment," he began. "I've seen it and it's that obvious so I'll leave it to you guys.

"I was already in big trouble trying to solve what happened on the pitch. It's not my problem to solve what happens off the pitch."

When reminded that Jeremy Doku was not booked for a similar offence, the Arsenal boss replied: "That's what I'm saying. It's that obvious that it's not necessary to comment on it. It's the second time. I'm expecting 100 Premier League games to be 10 against 11 or nine vs 10 this season. Let's see."