Officials

Arsenal return to action this weekend with a trip to Brentford for a 12pm kick-off on Sunday, so which officials have been charged with messing things up?

Arsenal’s afternoon might have unfolded differently if Greater Manchester’s Lee Mason on VAR hadn’t told Salford’s Paul Tierney to have a look at Christian Eriksen falling over and even Martin Odegaard has no clue why it was called back.

Paul Tierney has been appointed referee for Arsenal’s trip to Manchester United this weekend and it will come as something of a surprise to learn that he hails from just three miles away from Old Trafford, but that’s the least of Arsenal’s problems with him.

Jarred Gillett will step away from the TV screens to take up his whistle as he is appointed referee for Arsenal’s game against Fulham at the Emirates this weekend.

Craig Pawson will take charge of Arsenal’s game against Bournemouth on Saturday and he will be ‘assisted’ by Paul Tierney on VAR.

Mike Dean was expected to leave refereeing when he retired at the end of the season but there has been a U-turn somewhere and he will now take up a new job in refereeing.

If you think that referees are quicker to book Arsenal players than any other side, I’m here to tell you that you aren’t paranoid because it’s (almost) true.

We all know that Mike Dean is set to retire at the end of the season and he will be joined by Martin Atkinson and Jon Moss.

Former referee, Mark Clattenburg, says that he wouldn’t have given Spurs the penalty Paul Tierney awarded on Thursday night and pondered why we never see that sort of thing given in other games.

Arsenal apparently have a discipline problem but, with the stats telling a very different picture, what’s really going on?

The Gabriel Martinelli red card was the15th under Mikel Arteta yet, once again, we are sitting here wondering why you never see red cards like that for anyone other teams.

Mark Clattenburg has said that Michael Oliver got it right and wrong against Arsenal as he continues to be one of only a few former refs prepared to defend Arsenal.

In total, there are 24 Premier League refs in play this season and Arsenal have seen 12 of them take charge of their games, although Michael Oliver has been handed five matches, twice as many as the next refs on the list with two: Stuart Attwell, Mike Dean, Martin Atkinson, Anthony Taylor, and Craig Pawson.

Stuart Attwell has been involved in some of the most controversial decisions this season and his reward is to be one of three officials from the Premier League to be considered for World Cup action in Qatar.

Arsenal have been fined £20,000 for being annoyed that Gabriel was sent off against Manchester City.

The referee for the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates on 6 January has been announced and it is the official Arsenal have had more than any other this season.

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…

Arsenal became the first side the in the Premier League era to reach 100 red cards when Gabriel was sent off against Manchester City on New Year’s Day, but how can that be when they’ve been largely criticised for being too soft?

Ask any Arsenal fan and they will tell you that referees are quick to give penalties against them but not so quick to give a spot-kick to the Gunners, so is this true and who gives the most penalties against Arsenal?

Mike Dean has been in charge of 63 Arsenal Premier League games, far more than any other official in the history of the league, but he’s refereed even more Manchester United games.