I do not like it when Arsene Wenger goes on too much about the decisions of the referee after Arsenal have just lost a game or drawn one we should have won, especially when the team has not performed well as has certainly been the case a lot this season.
But having said that, the Frenchman is often right about his assessment of the officials and how costly their mistakes are to the Gunners. I would just like to point out a few from our latest game, although I am not trying to get away from the fact that Arsenal played poorly especially in our defending at set pieces.
The thing is, Gooners, that sometimes a side can get something from a game despite playing badly and that could have been the case yesterday. Arsenal should have had a penalty in the 66th minute when Mustafi was clearly kicked after Welbeck’s header from a corner crashed off the bar.
It may not have been on purpose but it was a foul and we should have had a spot kick which would have made it 2-2. Who knows what would have happened after that? What about the tackle on Alexis Sanchez that damaged his ankle? Clear yellow card at least but the ref gave nothing.
Earlier in the half there was a clear pull back on the Chilean which the ref did see as he gave a free kick but the automatic booking never came. The incident from this weekend’s loss that really got me fuming, though, was when Bellerin was penalised for jumping into a defender to attack a header. It was almost identical to when Alonso jumped into him for Chelsea’s opening goal at Stamford Bridge, apart from the fact that Alonso actually caught our player with his elbow and so hard that he had to be subbed off.
At that point in the game at Chelsea we were holding our own but after going behind we had no choice but to take the risk of pushing forward and Chelsea exploited it fully. We also saw the game against Bayern Munich turned by two dodgy penalty calls and a ridiculous red card for Koscielny.
It does not excuse our performances but are you really telling me that the officials are not killing Arsenal with these calls?
Sam P.