Arsenal spent much of the recent season voicing frustration over key refereeing decisions that they believe worked against them. While the Gunners have established themselves as one of the top-performing clubs in England over the last three campaigns, they have consistently finished as runners-up in the Premier League standings.
This consistent near-miss has left some supporters wondering whether the outcome might have been different had certain decisions gone their way. The sense of injustice has grown, particularly regarding penalties, red cards, and contentious fouls that have shaped the course of several matches.
Pattern of Controversial Decisions
Many fans argue that Arsenal have been disproportionately affected by officiating errors. Although not necessarily deliberate, these incidents have often come at critical moments. Whether it is a penalty awarded under questionable circumstances or a red card shown with minimal contact, the consequences have often been costly.
The club’s supporters believe these errors may have directly influenced their chances of securing silverware. In a sport where fine margins matter, even a single incorrect decision can shift momentum in a title race. Arsenal’s extended wait for a major trophy has, in part, been attributed by some to these controversial calls.
Keith Hackett Highlights Arsenal’s Treatment
Former FIFA official Keith Hackett has acknowledged the issues faced by the Gunners throughout the campaign. In comments published by Football Insider, Hackett admitted that Arsenal were on the receiving end of a number of harsh decisions, noting one particular incident involving Declan Rice.
“If you remember, I thought the Rice send off for the tapping of the ball slightly away was nonsense,” Hackett stated. “I think sometimes what happens is that when an incident takes place, Arsenal players, probably motivated by the manager, surround the referee and in doing so put the referee under a bit of pressure. I think the outcome is that that may escalate. I think throughout the season there are a number of incidents where Arsenal have been treated fairly harshly.”
The club have been vocal about these matters and is hopeful that meaningful changes will be implemented in the future. Arsenal’s priority is to ensure a level playing field, so that officiating does not continue to undermine their pursuit of success.
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Without any doubt not just this but last season aswell. Something needs to change quickly for the sack of our club. We should have won last year but ref put paid to that. Hope this season it’s deferent and I hope we hurry and sign two strikers I believe we need 2 Victor and seco why not
What about the points we dropped not because of bad decisions?
what about sticking to the topic?
Here are some interesting facts I’ve discovered, following on from Mr Hacket’s observations :
The Arsenal committed 399 fouls last season,, only three other clubs committed less.
The Arsenal received six red cards, the highest in the PL.
The Arsenal received 70 yellow cards, chelsea were the highest with 107 yellow cards.
Mikel Arteta has received 18 yellow cards since joining our club as coach / manager… he received 6 last season, the highest PL manager along with the Brighton manager, who, incidentally received 7 the year before.
I’m of the opinion that, since that Newcastle game, where MA questioned the referee, things have gone decidedly up with regards to decisions going against us.
Some, of course, will say that things will even themselves out over the season, but it is as plain as the nose on my face that this isn’t true.
Referees are corrupting the very essence of the game, by making personal decisions rather than following the rule book and The Arsenal and their manager seem to have
been selected by such referees as Mr Oliver, whose links with the owners of city115 need to be investigated, as his refereeing when The Arsenal play city115 are, at the very least, biased to the latter.
As for MA, his antics when he first took charge, were embarrassing, but he’s toned that down now.
Were Klopp’s, Mourinho’s or Guardiola’s celebrations any less exuberant (while we saw pool’s new manager come onto the pitch and confront the referee, Mr Oliver, and actually manhandle him 😂)?
Not one PL referee was demoted, fined or banned during last season and the PGMOL remain completely unanswerable to anyone but themselves.
They still cannot use the VAR system correctly and yet they want to keep it as a fall back to cover their own backs.
Funny old game!!
Interesting to note the number of fouls committed being low and the red cards being so high. I don’t recall our red cards being leg breakers or for violent conduct. The Rice and Trossard reds still irk me. They came across as petty early season dismissals – mostly I fear, to set the tone of refereeing for the year.
Ken, surely PGMOL are answerable to the people who employ and fund them: The FA, PL & EFL.
Jax, if the entities you give were to sack the lot of them, what do you think would happen?
The PGMOL has become an organisation that cannot be replaced and I don’t want it to be either.
What I would like to see, is them coming out and explaining the decisions that differ over a season, why one referee can make a decision then change it in the next game, while citing that he didn’t want to spoil the spectacle, come out after a game (as managers and players have to do) and explain to us, the paying public, their decisions, learn how to use VAR properly and consistently and actually discipline referees who do not referee by the rule book.
Is that too much to ask?
Ken, I don’t know about sacking them, but they can be made to explain themselves, and I don’t see how they get away without doing so.
Mr. Hackett’s observation was right, I think it was well planned and make it look like mistake or errors. If nothing is done same thing will still repeat itself coming season. Arsenal board should table down all these fact and write a petition against premier league referees.
Many epl refree really bias against arsenal,blew rubbish as if it’s planed.. arsenal vs Liverpool first leg 2024/2025.the refree cancelled arsenal goal without explanation.
Saying English referees aren’t corrupt is simply hiding our heads in the sand..PERIOD. need not say much. They single handedly soiled what WAS the biggest league in the world.
The legendary Frenchman once said ” If I die, am going to ask God where the referees are before choosing between heven and hell ”
In retrospect things haven’t changed much since the Wenger era.
I find Ken post above very damming , numbers don’t lie, this is a crisis.
But if the head of the stream is contaminated, what can one really expect down stream.
In an attempt to take shame out of his eyes, David Coote was given a slap on his wrist by Howard Webb, but there’s is no doubt a lot of David Coote still on the loose.
Whenever a complaint is raised against a poor officiating…the FA end up punishing the coach….without a proper investigation….and not like other teams…like…Liverpool,Chelsea and Manchester city..it’s so boring..
I think the issue if arsenal and referee is planned one. They use any slight opportunity to carry out there plan, we never see rice and trosaard form of red card again, as well as matineli, the penalty saliba committed is a strange one. But since it’s arsenal everything goes.
And other clubs aren’t even penalised when doing the same as us!
Regardless, we now have to play with a big enough goal margin to win even if we go down to 10 players.
Me thinks human’s favourite pass time is to hate rather than love. Next season we should try to win all our games by +2 goals. Let’s make these Haters more miserable.
Will never happen
Three inevitable: death, tax and ref bias against Arsenal. It must be expected in a league populated with refs and bosses from northern regions. Ref bias and inconsistent decisions against Arsenal was, is, and will surely be in the new season as well. Get on with it the panacea what else because the talk brought no solution thus far.
What about decisions that go in our favour is that bias ?
It’s not that simple though when faced with the statistics Dan. I had already noticed a couple of weeks ago the anomaly between our red cards and fouls committed. That must say something about the inconsistent levels of officiating. As in my reply to Ken1945, our reds were not nasty and the two reds I mentioned smacked of the referees making an early season example of wrongdoing to set the tone for the campaign. It didn’t have to be Arsenal specifically, as another team could have suffered the same fate, but that was my impression at the time and I haven’t changed my mind.
Yeah I just feel when we use words like biased I need evidence of that
The evidence is there Dan
We committed less fouls than fourteen of the other PL clubs, but ended up joint top regarding red cards and being yellow carded for every ten fouls committed.
But in isolation were they red cards ?
Just you commit less fouls doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get a red
Foe example Saliba, Merino and Skelley ( West Ham) were obvious red cards based on poor defending
What was how many fouls the team have made have anything to do with their red cards ?
Are you saying they should have been let off based on how many fouls their peers have made ?
Also there are some things we got away with
Dan
You mentioned the 3 that were obviously red. How about the other ones?
Dan, let’s take your last point first.
Nobody is saying we didn’t get away with “some things” as you put it. Unfortunately they don’t produce stats that confirm such things, so that’s opinion based.
If you can’t see that finishing the table of fouls committed in 15th place, yet having that number of red and yellow cards incurs the curiosity of the once head of referees as a discussion point, then carry on believing that everything is OK mate.
Oh I feel so much better now I know the real reason for us failing to win the title in the past three seasons.
Here’s me thinking it was a combination of things, such as injury’s to a degree, bad tactics, overplaying of certain players, squad not big enough or enough quality cover, bad management.
But it turns out there’s a conspiracy against our beloved team.
IN FOR ME, IN FOR ME, THEY’VE GOT IT IN FOR ME.😂🤣🙄🤦♂️🤷♂️🥱
There’s nothing worse than someone who thinks he’s a comedian, when he’s actually a pain in the ass!!
Where has anyone said that the reason we haven’t won any trophies is because of refereeing decisions over last season?
If you actually read what Hacket said and then digested the findings of my follow up, the points being made were about refereeing decisions and the PGMOL being self regulated.
But in your haste to become JA’s stand up comedian, you made yourself look rather
foolish… in my opinion of course.
As a footnote, we didn’t win the PL because we weren’t the best squad.
Injuries, tactics, substitutions, red and yellow cards all played a part of course, but the bottom line is that liverpool got more points than us.
Ken1945,
I’m sorry my post wasn’t to your taste. As for the stand up comedian comment, I was actually sitting down when I wrote it.🤣😂👍
I guessed that, as you don’t want blood rushing to your head, you might come up with something funny.
Now, is it possible you can actually discuss the article as a mature Arsenal supporter, or do you still want to be the joker in the pack?
Well I’m afraid Ken1945,
When I read some of the dross on here in excuse making, I find it easier to make a sense of humour out of it. But in so doing, it doesn’t mean that I don’t make valid points along the way.
And also I like a good laugh. It’s not my fault that some poster’s have had a sense of humour bypass. I hope they recover one soon. 😂🤣👍
If it was funny, I’m sure it would be appreciated.
In this article, it was the man who used to be in charge of the PGMOL rasing this issue.
So if Mr Hacket is talking dross in your opinion, then so be it.
I’d rather have a grown up debate amongst Arsenal supporters as to the merit or otherwise of his concerns.
It seems most on here are doing just that, so why not join in?
These early red cards may also have contributed to injuries. When going down to ten men, you have to put in a big shift, as everyone is aware, and with it being so early in the season, it is far from ideal
Excellent point BOT and look how we performed against city115, when Mr Oliver’s intervention stopped the match from being the spectacle he so much wanted other games to be!!
Then defend better
Make better choices
The key point regarding the Trossard and Rice cards was they were both early in the season and whilst could be judged as the letter of the law (with considerable debate about whether they were fully justified) it struck me that it was an opportunity for the refereeing powers that be to make an example of us (in these 2 cases) as a way of setting out their stall for the other clubs to take note of. You make a more than reasonable argument about playing with 10 men could very well have been a factor in injuries
Howard Webb has destroyed EPL. There are no consequences for bad officiating. All he does is defend the inconsistent decisions by his referees. Rules are clear. Google Michael Oliver’s stats for Arsenal and Man City over the years. Its clear whats going on but they continue to have him officiate Arsenal matches.
Lets face it, all Howard Webb is just an apologist for the incompetence of his employees.
There must be nothing worse for the wronged club to have to listen to him apologize for said mistake. But that apologie means nothing, as it doesn’t change the decision that contributed to the outcome of the game in some cases.
Instead of being an apologist for a good part of the season, Howard Webb needs to grow a back bone and start laying down some ground rules for these error making officials that he oversees. In other words, do your job right or jog on.
Excellent observations Derek and I concur with you (and Jax above) 100%
It’s about time referee’s had the gumption to explain their controversial decisions.
Ken1945,
Thanks for your response. I can’t promise I’ve turned over a new leaf regarding my comedy, but I can be serious when I want to be.😁👍