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Arsenal get same horror refereeing team for Bournemouth FA Cup match

Arsenal will travel to Bournemouth on Monday night for a match refereed, again, by Martin Atkinson, while Mike Dean will run the VAR.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 18: Referee Mike Dean gestures as he referees his 500th Premier League match during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Sheffield United at Emirates Stadium on January 18, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 18: Referee Mike Dean gestures as he referees his 500th Premier League match during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Sheffield United at Emirates Stadium on January 18, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

One week ago, as I write this, Arsenal were getting ready to face Sheffield United. I described the refereeing team that day as a ‘horror’ – Mike Dean in charge, Lee Mason as fourth official and Martin Atkinson in charge of the VAR.

They lived up to their billing to rob Arsenal of a win against Sheffield United.

Now, for the fourth round of the FA Cup, we have Martin Atkinson in charge and Mike Dean on VAR. We have Adam Nunn running the line. He also did that for our FA Cup game against Leeds in the last round. It will be the sixth time Nunn has been involved in an Arsenal game.

This is a point I’ve been banging on about all season. For some reason, there seems to be a more limited rotation of officials for Arsenal matches than other teams. It’s also part of the reason we see Arsenal consistently treated more harshly than all other sides in the division.

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 01: Danny Rose of Tottenham Hotspur speaks with referee Martin Atkinson during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium on September 01, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 01: Danny Rose of Tottenham Hotspur speaks with referee Martin Atkinson during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium on September 01, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

This season, in the league and FA Cup, Arsenal have played 25 games with Monday night’s match their 26th.

Martin Atkinson will have been involved as referee, fourth official or lead VAR operator in seven games Arsenal games this season by the end of Monday’s match. That’s more than a quarter of our games.

He’s not the only one.

Chris Kavanagh and Paul Tierney have also been involved in seven Arsenal games each this season while linesman Constantine Hatzidakis has done that job in eight games – over 30%.

I looked at every official involved in every Arsenal game this season. Here are the results with the number representing the number of times the official acted as referee, assistant referee, fourth official, VAR or assistant VAR for an Arsenal game.

You know yourselves which ones are mostly assists refs…

OfficialArsenal involvement
Constantine Hatzidakis8
Paul Tierney7
Martin Atkinson7
Chris Kavanagh7
Andy Halliday7
Peter Bankes6
Mike Dean6
Adam Nunn6
Stuart Attwell5
Neil Davies5
Lee Betts5
Anthony Taylor5
Stephen Child4
Sian Massey-Ellis4
Richard West4
Marc Perry4
Lee Mason4
Kevin Friend4
Ian Hussin4
Harry Lennard4
Dan Robathan4
Simon Hooper3
Peter Bankes3
Michael Oliver3
Jon Moss3
Gary Beswick3
Craig Pawson3
Andre Marriner3
Tim Robinson2
Simon Bennett2
Graham Scott2
Gavin Ward2
Eddie Smart2
David Coote2
Darren Cann2
Daniel Cook2
Stuart Burt1
Scott Ledger1
Peter Kirkup1
Nick Hopton1
Matthew Wilkes1
Matt Donohue1
Mark Scholes1
Keith Shroud1
Jarre Gillett1
Darren England1
Andy Maley1
Andy Garratt1
Andy Davies1
Adrian Holmes1
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