Arsenal defender Timber: ‘We have been through a lot this season’ | OneFootball

Jurrien Timber praised the character shown by his Arsenal team-mates during what he admits has been a season with plenty of difficult challenges.

Arsenal overcame a controversial red card for Myles Lewis-Skelly to beat Wolves 1-0 on Saturday, their fourth red card in the Premier League this season.

Timber admits he was surprised by the decision to send off Lewis-Skelly for his challenge on Matt Doherty but hailed the focus of the team to quickly refocus on the task at hand.

“We would never [give up], that’s the character of our team,” he said.

“We have been through a lot this season. This morning we lose our captain [to illness] and that’s really hard. But with the fans, we showed we are a team and we are not easy to beat.

“It’s hard sometimes… during a game – and not just this game – there are a lot of things happening and I don’t always agree with the decisions but you just have to accept it and then go. You have to react.

“That’s the only thing you can do, that’s the only thing in your hands. Sometimes it is frustrating but mentally, emotionally, you have to find a way to get over it and pick it up as a team. We did that.

“I didn’t expect the red card, to be honest. But it happens, you have to react. We can’t keep talking about red cards. We didn’t talk about it much at half-time either.

“It is not the first time. It is still hard but we also know how to deal with it now. It is not nice to go into a second half like this, but it is what it is. We showed character today. That’s what we needed.”

The Gunners had Riccardo Calafiori to thank for securing the victory at Molineux after he scored a brilliantly taken second-half winner, and Timber has been impressed by the defender’s finishing ability.

“Amazing,” he said about the goal. “I haven’t seen it back but during the game it looked like a real striker’s goal. He scores very nice goals, to his credit.”