Arsenal Set To Complain Over Standard Of Officiating In The North-East

Arsenal are set to complain to the head of ProRef Howard Webb (formerly PGMOL) over the standard of officiating that the Gunners received in the 2-0 victory at the Stadium Of Light on Saturday evening by referee John Brooks. 

Arsenal will be bringing up a few incidents with the refereeing governing body, but the main complaint will be over the awarding of the Sunderland penalty early in the second half. The first issue being raised, will be the fact that the throw-in took 53 seconds from the time the ball went out for Mukiele to then throw the ball into the box!

A new law on throw-ins has been brought in this season to which under the referees discretion, they can start a 5 second countdown before a throw-in would then have to be overturned. This new law is designed to prevent teams from ‘delaying the re-start.’ Calafiori had previously been penalised and had a throw-in overturned for ‘delaying the restart’ despite having hold of the ball for just 18 seconds, something that the club feel is completely unjustified. 

Arsenal’s biggest complaint will however, be the awarding of the penalty. In the post match interview, Mikel Arteta described the challenge by Dan Ballard on Ezri Konsa as a ‘judo roll’ in which the Sunderland defender pulled the shoulder of the Arsenal defender, who subsequently fell on top of Ballard. The referee was convinced Konsa had initiated the contact and dragged the Englishman to the floor, but replays and clear evidence showed it was the exact opposite. Despite the foul being sent to VAR, they then confirmed the penalty decision, despite clear evidence of a foul the other way. Something which Arsenal now feel was sheer incompetence. 

Thankfully in Arteta’s men’s case, the decision didn’t alter the outcome of the match. David Raya pulled off a simply STUNNING save from Le Fee’s spot kick to keep the game at 0-0 before Arsenal went up the other end two minutes later and took the lead through former Magpie Bruno Guimaraes after his wonderstrike found the top right hand corner. Arsenal then completed the victory when Saka converted a late spot kick after being fouled by Reinildo who subsequently received a second yellow card and was sent off. 

ProRef have come under yet more scrutiny over the weekend, following the awarding of Erling Haaland’s goal in the Manchester Derby on Sunday afternoon, despite Enzo Fernandez clearing 'interfering with play’ from an offside position. Manchester United have since received an apology, but it has left manager Michael Carrick under serious pressure. 

Although Arsenal have complained over their officiating, whether The Gunners will receive a public apology remains to be seen.