Liverpool fan Jarred Gillett has been appointed to referee another Arsenal game this weekend, despite the Gunners competing in a title race with Jurgen Klopp’s side.
The Premier League have confirmed their latest appointments of officials for the weekend’s fixtures, including Arsenal’s away trip to Burnley.
Jarred Gillett will referee the match, with Darren Cann and Dan Robathan as his assistants, and Simon Hooper will act as the fourth official.
Paul Tierney will be on VAR duties, with Scott Ledger as his assistant.
The appointment of Gillett is somewhat puzzling, considering his history as a Liverpool supporter.
The referee officially declared his support of the Reds when he was appointed in the Premier League, and as a result, he’s been taken off all Liverpool games.
Yet despite Arsenal competing with Liverpool for the Premier League title, with just two points between the teams, Gillett continues to referee matches involving Mikel Arteta’s side.
He took the Gunners’ 1-0 away defeat to Aston Villa in December, and he was on VAR duties for the recent win over Nottingham Forest in January.
Fortunately, there weren’t any contentious VAR decisions to make in that Forest clash, but there are always 50/50 calls to make when you’re the on-field referee.
It’s somewhat inevitable that most referees will have some kind of footballing allegiance.
Michael Oliver is a known Newcastle United fan, supporting his team in a local bar when they faced Arsenal last May, yet he remains one of the division’s better officials. He’s going to get some of the big games, and that’s just how it goes.
But if Newcastle United were competing with Liverpool for the title, it would raise a few eyebrows if Oliver was on multiple Liverpool games.
There’s no conspiracy here, no one is suggesting the Premier League are deploying their agenda to stop Arsenal. But it seems a thoughtless selection when there’s inevitably going to be some subconscious element of bias there.
There are plenty of Premier League referees who haven’t declared an allegiance to Liverpool, Manchester City, or Arsenal. The vast majority, in fact.
It seems strange that the PGMOL would ever pick from the small pool of referees who do support one of those three.