Talk of conspiracy is afoot amid Arsenal's streak of ill discipline, but is it all in their heads or is there more to it?
It is important to preface this article with a few disclaimers. Firstly, the hysteria drummed up by Arsenal fans regarding referees and drawing up conspiracies is, for the most part, total nonsense. It is only worth entertaining for the sake of entertainment.
Death threats made to Michael Oliver and his family after Saturday's game with Wolves are unacceptable and condemned to the fullest extent, which should go without saying. He made a mistake, he may face action for it with some form of demotion – which would probably be for his own good at this rate – but there's a line that's been crossed.
All that said, the Gunners do find themselves on the end of some strange decisions. The difference is every other club doesn't catalogue them with a vengeance and store receipts for later. Referees make mistakes the same way players do, it's a very human part of the game. How often do you come away from a game thinking 'yeah wow what a game from the ref today, eh'? Unconscious biases certainly aren't out of the question, yet character assassinations coming from the Arsenal camp won't be helping build any bridges in that regard – refereeing in general has become too much of a topic in the Premier League product.
No top-flight club has received more red cards than Arsenal (19) since Mikel Arteta took charge in December 2019. Some were cases of ill discipline, some were 50-50 calls, some were unlucky.
GOAL picks out 10 key incidents during Arteta's reign that were controversial and ranks them by how harsh those decisions really were.
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Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty Images Sport10Martinelli's two bookings at Wolves
It's incredibly rare to see a player pick up two bookings in a matter of seconds for successive cynical fouls. That's mostly because most players aren't daft enough to actually tread that line.
Gabriel Martinelli found himself dismissed for such an offence away at Wolves in February 2022, shoving Daniel Podence while he tried to take a quick throw before hauling down Chiquinho. This was merely a lack of common sense on Martinelli's part, no matter which way Arsenal try and spin it. Nothing more.
AdvertisementGetty Images9Mosquera's double offence
Yerson Mosquera hasn't contributed too much to Wolves since joining in 2021, yet somehow managed to avoid a red card on one of only five Premier League outings to date.
Not only did he walk away unpunished for appearing to choke Kai Havertz while the German was laying flat out on the turf, but he also managed to get Gabriel Jesus booked after fondling with the poor striker's backside too. A day without meaningful consequences either way, but crazy and curious still.
Getty Images Sport8Saliba heads Pedro
Arsenal's recent meeting with Brighton wasn't without controversy. William Saliba conceded a penalty after losing an aerial duel to Joao Pedro, brushing his head against the Brazilian's after the Seagulls forward nodded the ball on having flicked it off the floor.
Saliba did get a touch of the ball himself, but was deemed to have lost the challenge to a controlled play – rather than two players simply going for a header – and been second to it. Again, this kind of offence is seldom seen inside the 18-yard box, mostly because it's rare for such a challenge to take place at all.
The VAR check was swift and this would be a decision lost to time had it been involved in a standard Saturday 3pm kick-off, as annoying as that may seem to those in the red corner.
AFP7Godfrey's stamp on Tomiyasu
Poor Tomiyasu was in the wars when Arsenal went up to Goodison Park to face Everton late in 2021. With the scores 0-0 in a game that would finish 2-1 to the Toffees, the Japan international's face was trodden on by Ben Godfrey after losing the ball to Allan towards the touchline.
There wasn't much room for the oncoming Godfrey to move into, but given there have been plenty of reds dished out in recent times for far lesser offences, it's strange that this wasn't even subjected to an on-field review.
