Arsenal will appeal against David Luiz’s red card after his controversial sending off in Tuesday’s Premier League defeat to Wolves.
And former Gunners stiker Kevin Campbell has blasted VAR and the match officials over the decision saying they did not ‘use common sense’.
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Campbell says Mikel Arteta’s side were playing their best football of the season so far as they led 1-0 at Molineux, before Luiz was dismissed in first-half stoppage time.
The Brazilian defender conceded a penalty and has shown a straight red after being adjudged to have fouled Willian Jose while making no attempt to play the ball.
Ruben Neves scored the resulting spot-kick, before Joao Moutinho completed the hosts’ comeback by claiming a second-half winner.
But Arsenal players, fans and pundits were left fuming after the game, claiming that no foul was committed, that any contact made was minimal, and that Luiz made a clear attempt to avoid touching his opponent.
The 33-year-old Brazilian is currently facing a one-match suspension, which would see him miss Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa, and Arsenal boss Arteta criticised the decision of referee Craig Pawson following the game.
“I’ve seen it ten times in different angles and I cannot tell you where the contact is,” said the Spaniard, although Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo claimed the ref had no other option than to send off the Gunners man.
A miserable evening for the Gunners was compounded by goalkeeper Bernd Leno being dismissed for deliberately handling the ball outside his box in the 72nd minute.
And ex-Gunner Campbell insists it’s right Arsenal appeal the decision, saying it was the wrong call.
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“You can still give the penalty, but you don’t have to send him off because he didn’t give an attempt to challenge the player,” he told Wednesday’s talkSPORT Breakfast.
“The referee could have used some common sense, couldn’t he?
“It’s a difficult one for the referees, because the striker goes down and there was a touch, no matter how minimal it was, they went to VAR and VAR said there was contact and he sent Luiz off.
“But you’d like to think common sense can be used in these situations.
“It’s a shame, because it was probably the best first-half Arsenal have played all season. They played with a lot of tempo, they pressed high, they played the ball through the lines, they played from the back and they got the ball from the forward players very quickly.
“They could have been in the lead early through Saka and really if Arsenal would have taken their chances, the game would have been over.
“But that’s the Premier League, if you don’t take your chances and put a team away, things can change very quickly and Wolves are capable. If you give them an opportunity.
“And unfortunately for Arsenal Wolves came up with the goods. You saw two snapshots of Arsenal in that game.”
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