Arsenal were left furious after seeing Myles Lewis-Skelly sent off against Wolves earlier this season and the Gunners have now had salt rubbed into their wounds with a significant fine.

Arsenal have been slapped with a hefty FA fine after their furious response to Myles Lewis-Skelly’s red card vs Wolves.

A statement from the FA read: “An independent Regulatory Commission has imposed a £65,000 fine on Arsenal in relation to the Premier League match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday 25 January.

“It was alleged that Arsenal failed to ensure their players did not behave in an improper way around the 43^rd minute, and the club subsequently admitted to this charge. The Regulatory Commission imposed this sanction following a hearing.”

Lewis-Skelly was sent off against Wolves at Molineux for what Michael Oliver deemed ‘serious foul play’ for his challenge on Matt Doherty. The decision left Arsenal players, who surrounded the referee, and boss Mikel Arteta furious.

Speaking after the game, the Spaniard said: “I am absolutely fuming but I leave it with you. Because it is that obvious, I don’t think my words are going to help.”

Arsenal immediately lodged an appeal, with the red card being overturned. The FA have explained just why Arsenal have been handed their fine despite the red card being chalked off. Referee Michael Oliver wrote in his post match report: “Following the 43rd minute dismissal, a number of Arsenal players surrounded myself to protest at the decision.”

It adds: “The Commission noted that it is important in this case not to conflate the decision of the Referee to dismiss Lewis Myles-Skelly (‘MLS’) and the subsequent overturning of that decision with the matter at hand. This case is simply concerned with the timely acceptance, or rather the non-acceptance, by the AFC players of a decision made by the Referee during the game.

matches are invariably peppered with controversial refereeing decisions and it is incumbent upon football clubs to make sure that their players accept those decisions even when their players vehemently believe that a mistake has been made by the Referee. As such the Commission did not consider the correctness of the Referee’s decision to send off MLS as having been a relevant consideration in terms of mitigation.”

The FA’s written reasons also detail that up to nine Arsenal stars approached Oliver during the incident. It added: “The duration of the Misconduct, the close proximity of the players to the referee, the number of players involved and the failure to desist/disperse when the referee indicates for them to do so, all render this a serious matter and serve to aggravate the Misconduct.”

Further reasons for Arsenal’s charge read as followed: “The unacceptable protracted time the incident took to unfold-from start to finish the AFC players were protesting the decision for around 2 minutes 15 seconds.