Even if it seems inevitable Arsenal will dispute PGMOL’s definition of “serious foul play” in the coming days, after the referee Michael Oliver’s remarkable call to punish Myles Lewis-Skelly for a cynical trip with a red card, Mikel Arteta will take great satisfaction from this victory at Wolves. The defender’s first-half sending-off will dominate the discourse but the substitute Riccardo Calafiori’s priceless winner, after Wolves were themselves reduced to 10 men when João Gomes was given a second yellow card, ensured they stay in the hunt for the title.

The problems are piling up for Wolves, who succumbed to a fourth straight defeat in which their only bona fide striker, Jørgen Strand Larsen, limp down the tunnel. Arteta knows that feeling. The Arsenal manager has not hidden his desire to strengthen his attack but Calafiori took his goal like a seasoned striker. Nelson Semedo’s headed clearance from Gabriel Martinelli’s cross dropped for the Italy defender and, on the swivel, he sent a first-time left-foot finish into the far corner. Pablo Sarabia, substituted minutes earlier, appeared punch-drunk on the Wolves bench. The home support again voiced their anger at the Wolves chairman, Jeff Shi. “Back the team or sell the club,” was the demand from the South Bank.

As this game drifted towards half-time, then came the decision that stunned Molineux. In the immediate phase after Wolves cleared a poor Declan Rice corner, just outside the D on the edge of the Wolves 18-yard box, Doherty seized a loose ball and set about storming upfield on the counterattack. Lewis-Skelly made a snap decision to trip Doherty, catching the defender around his ankle. It was a touch crude but it was not high, forceful or malicious. It was a tactical foul if ever there was one, though the chances of Wolves waltzing forward from there and scoring were surely slim. Oliver appeared to have a prime view of the incident but almost immediately he informed the officials he planned to pull out the red card. Then he flashed it at Lewis-Skelly.

Arteta was utterly bemused, switching his ire between assistant referee and fourth official, his players incredulous. Gabriel, Arsenal’s captain in the absence of the unwell Martin Ødegaard, quizzed Oliver, by now surrounded by raging red shirts. Arteta managed to keep his counsel, pointing to his head and instructing his players to change shape. Lewis-Skelly had been one of five players promoted to the starting lineup, another youngster, Ethan Nwaneri, also returning in midfield. At the interval, three security guards rushed to flank Oliver, who also had Gabriel for company as he headed down the tunnel. For Arsenal, another shuffle was required, with defender Calafiori replacing Nwaneri, who had shown a couple glimpses of his talent.

Nwaneri had been involved in Arsenal’s two big first-half chances, both of which culminated in Kai Havertz dragging his fingers down his face in frustration. For the first he shunted the ball on to Martinelli centrally and he bypassed Lewis-Skelly to locate Leandro Trossard. The Belgian forward cut inside and dinked a right-foot cross towards the back post, where Havertz got above Santiago Bueno and dropped a header narrowly wide of a post. Five minutes later Nwaneri again got things moving. Rice then fed Trossard, whose superb cross invited Havertz to send a stooping header at goal. José Sá, the Wolves goalkeeper, made an instinctive save with his right leg.

Rice stung the palms of Sá early in the second period after Thomas Partey and Martinelli combined and Havertz saw another chance come and go, heading narrowly over from a Rice free-kick. Up the other end David Raya clawed a deflected Matheus Cunha shot, which took a nick off Saliba, out for a corner. From Sarabia’s subsequent corner, Cunha side-footed wide and theatrically crashed to the turf in frustration. Emmanuel Agbadou executed an expert slide tackle on Martinelli, reminiscent of André’s all-encompassing but clean first-half challenge on Nwaneri in front of Arteta on the touchline.

But just as it felt Wolves were dialling up the pressure, Gomes hit self-destruct. Booked in the first half for booting the ball away after the referee blew for a foul by Cunha, the Wolves midfielder picked up a second yellow card on 70 minutes. Gomes was late on Jurriën Timber and inadvertently clamped the ankle of the Arsenal full-back. Gomes looked to the skies and then crouched to the floor as Oliver confirmed the news. It gave Arsenal the leg-up they required.