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Arsenal PGMOL referee selection machine breaks down

Against Manchester City on Wednesday, Arsenal will get a set of match officials that does not involve Martin Atkinson, Mike Dean, nor Chris Kavanagh in what almost feels like a minor miracle.

Referee Jon Moss looks on during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on September 22, 2019 in London, United Kingdom.
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 22: Referee Jon Moss looks on during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on September 22, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Yes, that’s right, the Premier League have remembered there are 21 referees approved for games at this level and decided to give Arsenal someone different for a change.

After the game against West Ham, Martin Atkinson has now been involved in a full quarter of all Arsenal’s league and FA Cup games either as referee or VAR (as has Chris Kavanagh). When you look at just the officials in charge, just three refs (Atkinson, Dean and Kavanagh) have been in middle of around 50% of Arsenal’s games.

I spoke this week about how unfair this is.

For the game against City, we will get Jon Moss in charge, another ref popular with PGMOL for Arsenal games, but this will only be his fifth involvement with us this season unlike Atkinson and Kavanagh who have eight and Dean who has seven.

Although this will be Moss’s fifth game of the season with Arsenal, it will only be the second time he’s been the referee (the other game being our 3-2 win over Villa in Matchweek 6). He has been fourth official twice and VAR once.

He will be assisted by Marc Perry and Eddie Smart who have already run the line in Arsenal games four and three times respectively – they are certainly not comparable to Constantine Hatzidakis who has done that job eight times this season for us.

Running the VAR will be Michael Oliver, considered the best in the game (although we generally do badly under him). Oliver has refereed just one Arsenal game this season compared to Atkinson’s six and has only been involved a total of three times (both others as VAR).

He will be assisted by Neil Davies.

PGMOL Arsenal officials pre-Manchester City:

(total indicates number of times the official has served as referee, assistant, fourth official, VAR or VAR assistant)

OfficialArsenal involvement
Constantine Hatzidakis8
Chris Kavanagh8
Martin Atkinson8
Paul Tierney7
Andy Halliday7
Adam Nunn7
Mike Dean7
Peter Bankes6
Stuart Attwell6
Stephen Child6
Lee Betts6
Sian Massey-Ellis6
Kevin Friend6
Neil Davies5
Lee Mason5
Anthony Taylor5
Ian Hussin5
Harry Lennard5
Craig Pawson4
Marc Perry4
Dan Robathan4
Jon Moss4
Gary Beswick4
Richard West4
Simon Hooper4
David Coote4
Peter Bankes3
Andre Marriner3
Eddie Smart3
Daniel Cook3
Simon Bennett3
Michael Oliver3
Graham Scott2
Gavin Ward2
Darren Cann2
Tim Robinson2
Andy Madley2
Scott Ledger1
Peter Kirkup1
Nick Hopton1
Matthew Wilkes1
Matt Donohue1
Mark Scholes1
Keith Shroud1
Jarre Gillett1
Darren England1
Stuart Burt1
Andy Garratt1
Andy Davies1
Adrian Holmes1
Simon Long1
John Brooks1
Simon Beck1
Peter Bankes0
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