Jonathan Moss has been appointed referee for Arsenal’s Premier League clash against Swansea, so what can we expect?

Moss hasn’t been in charge of an Arsenal match since April when we beat West Brom at the Emirates 2-0. However, he has refereed six matches so far this season.

The thing is, although the West Yorkshire-born official has been one of the least terrible referees for us in the past (we’ve won 12 out of the 14 matches he’s been in charge of and had the least amount of yellow cards out of all the other English teams – 13) he made a decision so shocking during his last match that many are calling for him to be demoted.

During Everton’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace on the 30th of September, Moss awarded a foul to the Toffies, which Romelu Lukaku scored from. However, it should have been given as an indirect free-kick, seeing as the Eagles’ Damien Delaney didn’t make contact with Phil Jagielka.

After the fiasco, former official, Keith Hackett, spoke out against the decision, claiming that Moss isn’t up to Premier League standard.

“The law is very clear,” Hackett explained.

“When a player commits an act of dangerous play, if there’s no contact it’s an indirect free kick.

“I expected Lukaku’s effort to be retaken and it wasn’t, that was 100% incorrect.

“Moss is a referee who is a consistent bottom of the table performer. Every time he referees it’s a bit of a disaster.

“For me he either needs a rest or he needs taking off the panel. We’ve got professional referees, so let’s be professional. He’s not up to the standard in my opinion.”

Yikes.

Hopefully we won’t see any such blunders when Moss referees our Swansea clash but it’s not looking good.

Assistants: H Lennard, M Perry
Fourth official: N Swarbrick