Arsenal fans have never thought highly of yesterday’s referee Mike Dean, and the Manchester-based official only added to his reputation with the highly controversial penalty he awarded to West Brom right at the end of normal time, which cost the Gunners yet another two crucial points.
On Wednesday, when the Gunners face Chelsea at the Emirates we will have another ref from Manchester in Anthony Taylor, who is thought to be a much more even-handed and careful whistle-blower, and we can happily say that Taylor has only been in charge of one Arsenal game this season in which we easily beat Bournemouth 3-0 and we got through the whole 90 minutes without sustaining even one yellow card.
On the minus side Taylor was the fourth Official that Wenger was abusing in the match at Burnley last season which resulted in the boss getting a four-game ban, but he was redeemed when he was given charge of the FA Cup Final, which we happily won against Wednesday’s opponents.
Taylor is no stranger to big games involving Chelsea though, and was officiating when the Blues turned over Tottenham at White Hart Lane earlier this season. He was given a much harder task when Jose Mourinho’s Man United visited Stamford Bridge in November. Chelsea won the game 1-0 and Taylor only gave out 4 yellows and 3 of them were against Man United.
Chelsea’s record with him in charge took a turn for the worst though in December when he oversaw their extremely surprising 1-0 defeat against West Ham at the London Stadium just three weeks ago.
Looking at his long term record involving Arsenal, over 18 games we have had a 61% success rate with him in charge and only lost 11%, while Chelsea have a 67% win rate but a 13% loss ratio. This season Taylor has already reffed 18 matches and is yet to give out a red card, but has shown 72 yellows, at an average of 4 per game…..
I am expecting a much less controversial match on Wednesday after yesterday’s debacle!
• Referee – Anthony Taylor
• Assistant Referee – Adam Nunn
• Assistant Referee – Lee Betts
• Fourth Official – Craig Pawson