Arsenal fans were rightly furious after major referring decisions went against them once again against Manchester City, and a look back through the archives on the site shows this is far from an isolated occurrence.
I know this list is far from definitive – who has that much time on their hands, but it certainly seems to paint a picture.
On what, I’ll leave you to decide, like a magic eye.
- Former top Premier League referee, Mark Clattenburg, says that Arsenal were hard done by against Manchester City on New Year’s Day as he highlighted just what he thinks Stuart Attwell got wrong – and backing Arsenal against officials is something Clattenburg has done regularly.
- Mikel Arteta has confirmed Arsenal contacted the referees and their association for an explanation over James McArthur avoiding a red card.
- There was this against Aston Villa that given as a free kick against Arsenal, and the foul on Saka, who was hacked down while clean through punished with a yellow card:
- Writing in the Daily Mail, Mark Clattenburg not only said Arsenal’s penalty was right to stand, he also said action should have been taken against Harry Kane for his dangerous barge on Gabriel.
- Chris Kavanagh delivered another refereeing horror show as Arsenal lost to Aston Villa.
- Arsenal have had their appeal over David Luiz’s red card against Wolves turned down, despite Mark Clattenburg claiming it was the wrong decision.
- Sergio Aguero will not face any retroactive punishment following Arsenal’s game at the Etihad when the Manchester City man put his hands on the assistant referee.
- Jamie Vardy is likely to escape any retrospective action for planting his studs in Shkodran Mustafi’s face, despite a former referee suggesting it should have been a red card.
- ‘Textbook refereeing’ says referee as Arsenal branded arrogant by player and media.
- Stuart Attwell is Arsenal’s worst referee in Premier League.
- Craig Pawson robs Arsenal against Chelsea.
- PGMOL chief Mike Riley believes Sokratis’ winner against Crystal Palace should have stood.
- VAR official Anthony Taylor believed Nicolas Pepe should have had a penalty but didn’t give it.
- Graeme Souness: Leicester players influenced referee – Maitland-Niles shouldn’t have been sent off.
- Referee who allowed Bernd Leno to be kicked in the face in charge of Wolves game.
- ‘By far the worst’ – Jens Lehmann slams referee decisions against Arsenal.
PGMOL will tell you their refs don’t form biases but, unlike what PGMOL would like to believe about themselves and their members, they’re human.
They form biases, whether they realise it or not.
It is impossible for them not to, consciously or unconsciously, when they are in charge of the same players so often and subjected to the same, tired media narratives.
There you have it folks, in black and white – what we saw at Brighton was 'textbook refereeing' pic.twitter.com/fLPPfjrnU2
— Daily Cannon (@DailyCannon) June 21, 2020
It is perhaps, then, no coincidence that Arsenal regularly sit at the top of the yellow card table, receiving more per game than others side.
They also tend to need fewer fouls to pick up a yellow than others, too.
Commentator says Arsenal have the worst disciplinary record in the league, co comms replies 'they don't seem like that sort of side'.
WE AREN'T.
Giving 25% of games to Martin Atkinson is the fucking answer.
— Daily Cannon (@DailyCannon) June 20, 2020
At what point does it become acceptable for the club to start asking questions and for them to actually stand up to officials who can make a game or player’s career yet are held accountable by no-one like they run their own little dictatorship?
“Question us and be punished” is their mantra while they refuse to speak to the media to explain their decisions or take blame for mistakes despite being professionals.
Players, managers and even fans are required to say sorry when they get something wrong.
Why not referees?