Wolves will be without Joao Gomes for their next game, after he got sent off in the defeat to Arsenal.
Wanderers fell to another defeat – their fourth in a row in the league – against the Gunners, with Riccardo Calafiori scoring the winner.
Wolves had a one-man advantage when Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off in the first-half for a foul on Matt Doherty.
But Joao Gomes, who was on a booking for kicking the ball away, then got sent off himself in the second-half for a late challenge on Jurrien Timber.
Pundit Danny Murphy described the Gomes challenge as ‘ridiculous’, and Wolves have now lost a key player for the next game with Aston Villa.
Vitor Pereira said the Gomes sending off was the turning point of the game, but the Wolves manager stopped short of laying into the Brazilian, and captain Nelson Semedo has also backed his teammate.
Nelson Semedo defends Joao Gomes and insists he’ll learn from sending off
Undoubtedly, the sending off of Gomes was a major turning point in yesterday’s game.
The Brazilian flew into Timber, got none of the ball and was rightly dismissed. In truth, he was perhaps slightly lucky it wasn’t a straight red.
It was a crazy decision for him to engage Timber as he was already on a yellow card.
Gomes’ reaction was very telling. He knew straight away that he’d made a mistake – but Semedo insisted after the game that he will learn from the incident.
He said (via Wolves official): “Joao is still young, but he’s a very experienced player. He won a lot of things as well, he’s a national team player, he is a very good player for us, he helps us a lot, and I’m pretty sure that he knows.
“He knows what he’s done wrong, but he knows what he does good, so I think he’ll learn from it. But he’s a very important player for us, and we have to keep him well, we have to keep him confident so he can come back and help us when he’s available.”
Joao Gomes deserves forgiveness after red card vs Arsenal
Gomes’ challenge on Timber was foolish, and quite possibly something that cost Wolves at least a point.
It is a real shame, because Gomes has been one of Wolves’ better performers in recent months.
Gomes was praised by Andy Thompson recently for setting an example to his teammates with the way he gives his all every game. And it’s for this reason that Wolves fans shouldn’t go too hard on him after his sending off against Arsenal.
Yes, he’s made a mistake. But Gomes has been such a key player for the team and is someone who has fought every single game, which cannot be said for other Wolves players this season.