Arsenal have expressed their disappointment after they failed in their appeal to have David Luiz’s red card against Wolves rescinded.
Luiz was sent off seconds before half-time at Molineux on Tuesday night following a collision with Wolves striker Willian Jose.
Referee Craig Pawson deemed that the centre-back had made no attempt to make a challenge when bringing down the Wolves striker in the penalty area, so brandished a red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
The incident was checked by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) at the time, with VAR official Jon Moss agreeing with Pawson’s on-field decision.
But Arsenal were incensed and after studying all the footage they had available, they launched an appeal as they felt the incident was accidental and that if there had been any contact, it was minimal at best and not even worthy of a foul.
The north London club believed they had submitted a strong case, but the Football Association have now announced that - following a hearing by an independent regulatory commission - the red card will stand and that Luiz will have to serve a one-game suspension, meaning he will miss Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa in the Premier League.
In response, Arsenal released a statement expressing their disappointment at the verdict.
“We have worked really hard to overturn David Luiz's red card,” the statement read. “We presented our case to the FA but are disappointed that our appeal has been unsuccessful.
“We accept the FA's decision and continue our preparations for Saturday's match against Aston Villa.”
Arsenal’s sense of frustration over the verdict will no doubt be increased by the fact that Southampton defender Jan Bednarek, who was sent off for a near identical incident against Manchester United on Tuesday night, has had his red card overturned.
Speaking on Thursday during his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s game at Aston Villa, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta had stated that he was hopeful that Luiz’s appeal would be successful.
“I am very hopeful,” said Arteta. “That’s why we put the appeal in because we went through all the images and we think that the red card should be overruled.”