Why is it always one rule for every other club and one rule for Arsenal?
I am growing increasingly tired and frustrated after each and every game when decisions are constantly inconsistent, and how many of them go against us! Watching our boys defending for their lives against Leicester last night built up a sense of pride in me. Seeing that somehow our defence has slightly improved, although I don’t doubt we still have a lot more work to do, was pleasing to the eye to know that some of the changes Arteta is making is actually working.
We were leading 1-0 against Leicester, up until the first set of substitutions when Arteta (for what reason I don’t know), took off both Lacazette and Saka, in place of Nketiah and Willock. Only 4 minutes after coming on Nketiah was initially booked by referee Chris Kavanagh but after a review by VAR and the ref using the on field monitor -(an action I have seen by a Premier League referee for the FIRST TIME, as they never really go over to the monitor!) he dismissed Nketiah for an untimely tackle deemed “serious foul play” on Leicester’s James Justin. Yet rewind back to the end of the first half with Jamie Vardy’s disgusting tackle on the face of Shkodran Mustafi, where both went for the ball and Vardy put his foot high enough to kick Mustafi in the face with his studs, leaving our defender with a few nasty cuts, and Vardy wasn’t even booked for the sick challenge may I add! After both tackles, Vardy and Nketiah seemed to “apologise” yet Nketiah was dismissed and Vardy wasn’t!
What has become clear over the years though is, had it been an Arsenal player to do both of those fouls, both would have been sent off not just one. Had it also have been Arsenal to equalise in the last minute – as Vardy who shouldn’t have even been on the pitch at that time did – with the possibility of an “offside interference in play” as VAR was looking at once Vardy scored, trying to work out whether Perez had interfered with the ball, it would have been ruled out for sure!
Arsenal, as a club, know we won’t ever win anything with referees and decisions in the game, out of 100 games we play, 1 game may go for us, while the other 99 goes against us. We are used to that and know we have to work hard and play for ourselves as a team no matter what.
How Vardy’s tackle WASN’T deemed serious foul play is beyond me, but it just proves my point that there is one rule for ARSENAL and one rule for every other team!
Am I right, Gooners?
Shenel Osman