Arsenal fans aren’t happy as EA’s player ratings for the Gunners squad seem to be dropping based on tiny dips in form, whilst rarely increasing even after consistently impressive performances.

In most of the recent FIFA games, including FIFA 19, players are given a base rating at the start of the season, but this rating can then change ‘live’ based on how that player performs in real life.

The idea is to have a more accurate in-game representation of how players and teams are doing in reality, but the problem is it seems to be judging Arsenal players extremely harshly.

One Reddit user rounded up some of the worst examples, which we’ll list for you here:

• After weeks of consistent performances, Bellerin finally got an upgrade from 80 to 81, only to drop back down to 79 after one draw with Wolves. Particularly strange considering the Spaniard played pretty well.
• Despite winning Player of the Month and battling for the league’s top goalscorer, Aubameyang’s rating actually dropped from 88 to 86.
• Torreira’s rating dropped from 83 to 81 after the Wolves game, even though he’s been one of Arsenal’s most consistent performers all season and was probably the standout performer for the Gunners in that game (excluding Bernd Leno). By comparison, the mediocre form of Liverpool’s Fabinho has earned him an 86 rating.
• After Wolves, Xhaka’s rating dropped from 83 to 77. A drop of 6 rating points for one mistake in an otherwise solid performance.

The author of the post called the ratings ‘unfair and absurd’, and other commenters added that the numbers are ‘horrid’ and part of the reason they’ve ‘stopped buying’ the game. Most of the rest of the comments were filled with language that it’d probably be best not to repeat in an article about a game played by a lot of young children.

This isn’t particularly surprising, given the way EA’s system works. A former stat editor recently confirmed to us that the ratings tend to come down to the whims of one or two moderators, who are ‘notorious’ for loving Liverpool. Reportedly working underneath those moderators are teenagers who just rate their favourite players the highest.

Until that system changes, I wouldn’t expect Arsenal players to be treated any more fairly in the near future.