OTD Arsenal ship 6 as Andre Marriner drops clanger

On 22 March 2014, not only did Arsenal lose 6-0 at Stamford Bridge, they were the victim of an embarrassing refereeing mistake at the hands of Andre Marriner.

It was Arsenal’s third heavy defeat that season, with the other two coming against Liverpool at Anfield (5-1) and Manchester City at the Etihad (6-3). Therefore, Gooners were getting pretty used to being humiliated away from home. However, Andre Marriner decided to steal the show that day and make an even bigger blunder than Arsenal’s performance.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put his hand out to prevent a goal and although the ball was arguably going to miss anyway, Marriner showed a red card. But instead of sending the Ox off, Marriner sent off Kieran Gibbs, who had nothing to do with the incident.

The Arsenal players and Arsene Wenger were understandably irate and the red card was later transferred over to the Ox post-match.

Speaking afterwards, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited said, “Incidents of mistaken identity are very rare and are often the result of a number of different technical factors.

“Whilst this was a difficult decision, Andre is disappointed that he failed to identify the correct player.

“He expressed his disappointment to Arsenal when he was made aware of the issue.”

Our pal Anthony Taylor was the fourth official for that game.

The Ox and Gibbs later saw the funny side, even nominating Marriner for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.