Why Myles Lewis-Skelly was booked in Man City draw – even before making Arsenal debut
Myles Lewis-Skelly was just one Arsenal player to be reprimanded by Michael Oliver during a pulsating 2-2 draw with Manchester City. And that yellow card came before the youngster actually made it on to the pitch for a first senior appearance amid an intense Premier League showdown between two title rivals.
The Gunners battled hard to leave the Etihad Stadium with all three points, holding a 2-1 lead for over half of the afternoon’s action. Erling Haaland had put City ahead, then the visitors capitalised on Rodri’s injury to take control and seize the advantage through Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Magalhaes.
However, their efforts ultimately weren’t rewarded with the win, as John Stones equalised in injury time. Their job had been made even more difficult when Leandro Trossard was dismissed over a second yellow card for delaying a restart, and even more so as referee Oliver cracked down on what he viewed to be time-wasting.
The experienced official was having none of Arsenal’s ‘excuses’ of cramp or injury problems during the second half, and one instance of this resulted in 17-year-old starlet Lewis-Skelly being booked.
Witnessing the incident first-hand, Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville speculated that the Academy graduate was spotted by Oliver when hinting towards goalkeeping team-mate David Raya to ‘feign injury’ in order to allow the clock to run down. However, that was not confirmed at the time of Oliver reaching to his pocket.
This yellow card was one of nine – six being shown to Arsenal players – during the meeting. For a brief time it also meant Lewis-Skelly’s record made for interesting reading.
He has been named on the bench for recent fixtures against Brighton and Tottenham Hotspur, and once again for the City game. His booking arrived in the 65th minute, but the player was only brought on to the pitch by Mikel Arteta in the 92nd minute. This means that the England Under-19 international was actually booked before making his Premier League debut for the club.
