Arsenal get VAR verdict after red card controversy during Wolves clash

Hwang Hee-chan was booked for his tackle on Myles Lewis-Skelly (Image: Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Hwang Hee-chan escaped a red card during the second half of Arsenal's clash against Wolves on Saturday night . The 29-year-old striker was booked for diving into a tackle on Myles Lewis-Skelly, and the manner of the challenge prompted a review at Stockley Park.

After watching back the incident, John Brooks and his assistant, Dan Robathan, agreed with the on-field decision of a yellow card . They described the foul by Hwang as 'reckless' and claimed that he tried to pull out of the collision.

The Premier League Match Centre provided clarification on the decision on X, formerly known as Twitter. The post read: "The referee’s call of yellow card was checked and confirmed by VAR – with Hwang deemed to be pulling out of the challenge on Lewis-Skelly and the contact on the foot deemed to be a reckless foul."

A few moments later, Arsenal broke the deadlock from a corner . Bukayo Saka struck the inside of the far post with an audacious delivery, which rebounded off the head of Sam Johnstone and into the net.

The Gunners hadn't scored directly from a set-piece in the Premier League since Viktor Gyokeres' header from a corner against Burnley at the start of November. Arsenal went on to score 11 goals in their next five English top-flight matches – and all of which were from open play.

Speaking to reporters at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Friday, Mikel Arteta was quizzed on his side's new source of goals . The Spaniard said: "This is football, and it has waves, and you try to analyse the last five games or ten games and the sample is that small that you get very, very confused.

Bukayo Saka of Arsenal celebrated his strange contribution to the opening goal against Wolves. (Image: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

"At the end, even 40 games is not enough to have a sample of what your team looks like because it’s too small. But the fact that we have the resources to score from various positions with different players in different manners, that’s a great thing.

"We want to be the best in every situation, that’s what we try to do."

The own goal by Johnstone on Saturday night ended the Gunners' run of open strikes. Arsenal enjoyed the lion's share of possession, but they struggled to break down Rob Edwards' side.

Mikel Arteta was forced to make a change during the first half of Arsenal's clash against Wolves (Image: Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Arteta was expecting a difficult clash, which is exactly what he got. He said: "In any Premier League match and especially against a team that is fighting against results. I know the manager really well and how he's going to push and get the players ready to do that.

"So from our side, we're going to go full gas from the beginning because we know what we have to do."