Whether you’re in the camp who believe there is some sort of sinister agenda being orchestrated by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited against Arsenal for reasons that nobody can explain, or the much larger one that knows there is nothing of the sort, pretty much everyone was in agreement that the red card shown to Myles Lewis-Skelly during his team’s game against Wolves last weekend was unfair. Everyone, that is, except the PGMOL, which did its increasingly damaged reputation few favours by doubling down on Michael Oliver’s decision to dismiss the teenager for what was a straightforward yellow card offence. The upshot? Arsenal appealed to the Football Association to have the card overturned and on Tuesday their independent regulatory commission duly obliged and an innocent young man walked free after being exonerated for a crime he did not commit.

Far from standing on the steps of FA HQ, having his fist held aloft in triumph by well-wishers and issuing a statement of defiance through his brief, it turns out Lewis-Skelly was oblivious to the creaking sound of the wheels of justice turning in his favour but was instead flaked out in repose on the plane ferrying himself and his teammates to Spain for their final Bigger Cup group game when the FA announced its verdict.

“An independent regulatory commission has upheld a claim of wrongful dismissal in relation to Myles Lewis-Skelly and removed his three-match suspension,” droned a statement that may well have helped the defender on his way to the Land of Nod if he wasn’t already there. “The Arsenal player was sent off for serious foul play during their Premier League fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, January 25, 2025.”

While Lewis-Skelly will now have to up his fouling game [his grandma would love that – Football Daily Ed] to win back his record of being the third-youngest player to be dismissed in Premier League history after Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen, his manager was pleased to see justice being done even if he wasn’t prepared to disturb his young charge’s rest to tell him about his reprieve. “Obviously, I’m very happy that a decision has been made and Myles is going to be able to play again,” cheered Mikel Arteta before Arsenal’s game against the 11 gentlemen of Girona. “He was sleeping on the plane when I looked back and I got the news, so I haven’t spoken to him but I imagine a big smile on his face.” While the PGMOL has yet to comment on the matter, an apology is unlikely to be forthcoming. It probably wouldn’t do much good anyway, as those most incensed by Lewis-Skelly’s dismissal almost certainly wouldn’t accept it and nobody else really cares.

Join Daniel Harris from 8pm GMT for hot Bigger Cup minute-by-minute coverage of Manchester City 3-1 Club Brugge, while Scott Murray will be on hand for clockwatch chaos around the 18 simultaneous matches.

“I would be concerned about stories like this which are sensationalised on the basis of driving interest and gossip, and which can perpetuate negative connotation’s around being gay in professional football. I also have concerns about the method of delivery of this kind of story, a video with adverts all over it driving traffic and monetising the story. And the general tone of subsequent conversations around this when there are really important issues to be discussed here” – Jon Holmes, from the consultancy group Sports Media LGBT+, speaks to Barney Ronay in this piece about why the Sun has simply been monetising David Coote’s distress.

Far be it from me to risk the wrath of Motherwell, but I can’t help thinking that the words of the club chairman rang somewhat hollow (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). After praising the achievements of the club’s departing manager, Stuart Kettlewell, among them his ‘exceptional record’, generation of transfer income and development of young players, he noted that: ‘… as a fan-owned, community-driven football club, we will always look after our own’. The reason for Kettlewell’s departure? Fan abuse of such a personal nature it was upsetting his family who didn’t want to attend matches any more. How many fans were banned for this? No mention on the Motherwell FC website” – Bernard Murray-Gates.

Given the latest officiating fiasco by Michael Oliver and Darren England, what about a card system for on-field and VAR refereeing mistakes? Two egregious errors = two yellows = one red = no officiating the next three scheduled games? Two reds = suspension from refereeing for six weeks? If there is no accountability, no one is watching the watchers” – Darryl Accone.

Burnley fans: rather than watch your beloved Clarets transform the beautiful game into a competitive form of watching paint dry, simply avert your tired eyes from the pitch and instead look upwards to admire how the Turf Moor stadium roof is put together. That’s riveting” – Mark McFadden.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our letter o’ the day is … Mark McFadden, who wins a copy of Football And How To Survive It, by Pat Nevin. You can buy a copy from Big Website’s bookshop. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.

The subject of who might be Tottenham’s two most in-form players is unlikely to have come up much in conversation lately among N17 regulars as Big Ange Postecoglou’s men suffer mishap after flamin’ mishap but a few miles down the road, two players on Spurs’ payroll are pulling up trees aplenty as Leyton Orient swagger up the League One table. At 4.55pm on 30 November, the O’s, then 21st in the third tier, were a goal down at home to non-league Oldham and seconds away from a second consecutive FA Cup exit at the hands of non-league opposition. Step forward Tottenham loanee keeper Josh Keeley, who piled into the Oldham box for a free-kick – which he nodded home to force extra-time in the tie, which Orient won 2-1 with another last-gasp goal, from Dan Agyei.

Nine league wins, two draws, no defeats and a progression to a fourth-round FA Cup tie against Manchester City later, Richie Wellens’s side sit sixth in the table, their run underpinned not just by Keeley’s heroics at both ends of the pitch (nine clean sheets have been kept in this run) but the increasingly influential playmaking displays of fellow Tottenham loanee Jamie Donley. And the feelgood factor was ramped up to 11 last night in Orient’s 6-2 shellacking of Exeter at St James Park. New signing Azeem Abdulai hit a hat-trick but it was Donley who ran the show, setting up Abdulai’s second with the most exquisite of Hollywood passes and then volleying home himself in the closing minutes to give Orient their first six-goal away league haul since 1954, when they won 7-1 at … Exeter. Tottenham’s league record over this same two-month period: P11 W1 D2 L8.

Pep Guardiola reckons the key to Manchester City getting themselves out of a Bigger Cup hole against Club Brugge is to be cold. “Read the game you have to play. [Be] completely relaxed, not emotional … understand the game,” he cooed, while fanning himself. “Sooner or later you have to play this type of game where you win, you go through, you don’t win, you are out.”

The latest news out of the Old Trafford fun-dome is that Ruben Amorim and Marcus Rashford are no longer talking to each other.

Mikel Arteta, who knows a thing or two about fury, has urged the game to prioritise changing the culture that surrounds it and eradicate “hatred”, roaring: “We don’t want it, we don’t need it, it can only damage our sport, so let’s get it out.” Yep, that should do it.

Despite Tyrone Mings looking like he’d suffered another nasty dose of knee-knack last weekend, Unai Emery hopes the Aston Villa defender will be back soon. “It is not a big injury,” he soothed. “But every day is going to be important to see if he feels better or worse.

Meanwhile, Al-Nassr are exploring a deal to sign Villa’s Jhon Durán instead of Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface. And though Villa suits kicked off massively at West Ham when they came knocking with a £57m bid this month, they may be more welcoming if the Saudi club throw in a bid of £80m.

And Arne Slot might have to field himself, Kenny Dalglish and Lee the kit man after making the decision to rest nine senior Liverpool players for the Bigger Cup match at PSV. “I’m now 100% sure it doesn’t matter if you end up first or second because we are guaranteed to play the team that is 15th, 16th, 17th or 18th,” trilled the Reds boss, while warming up.

The latest extract from this week’s edition of our sister email is out now, with Tom Garry focusing on the potentially thorny issue of B teams.

Which football invincibles have still managed to finish a season lower than second? The Knowledge knows.

The promotion-chasers who can’t win at home, the sinking ship who keep scoring and the goalkeeper who sets up goals: strange and surprising statistics from Europe’s top leagues this season, courtesy of Ben McAleer.

Transfer interactives: all the latest men’s and women’s moves covered.

And are Manchester United knock, knock, knockin’ on Heaven’s door? This and more in the latest Rumour Mill.

Ref Roger Kirkpatrick brings his no-nonsense outlook – and sublime sideburns to Southampton’s match with Manchester United at the Dell in March 1973. Bobby Charlton and Jim Holton grabbed the goals in a 2-0 win.