ManU v Arsenal, how one referee gives 5 times as many penalties as another
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Mancheter United v Arsenal
There’s an interesting defensive comment from Ruben Amorim in the Telegraph today: “Mikel Arteta had time at Arsenal – I will not get the same at Man Utd”. So the implication is once again, “Lucky Arsenal”. and “Unlucky Manu.” I expect most of the media will swallow that one, but I doubt too many Arsenal fans who have been watching the games in recent years will feel the same.
Unlucky Manu? When Arsenal have lost their three prime choice forwards to injury?For it’s not just a case of having five men out, it is having the entire first choice forward line out that is the key issue.
The total number of players out, team by team, is enormously varied, and the argument about how much teams bring this on themselves, how much is a case of opposition tacklers targeting key players, how much is referee largesse toward some teams and not others (because of the perception that Team X is not a dirty team, and so they don’t get many cards, while Team Y is a dirty side, and Team Z is a tricky side, always trying to get one over the referee), goes on and on. For the media clubs are always to blame, but the data which the media utterly refuse to publish show a different story.
And we can perhaps start that story with a different factor.
Arsenal’s most yellow-carded player is Jurriën Timber with seven such cards, placing him 13th in the offenders list. Next are Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Jesus with four such cards each, placing them 81st on the list. A dirty team? It would seem not, even when playing in front of PGMO men.
It is also interesting that these days, the media pay virtually no attention to the comparative number of yellow cards that different clubs have received. Top of the rank in fact is Chelsea, who were also top last season with 105 yellows. These figures are way above what we used to see – for example in 2022/23 the club at the top of the yellow league were Leeds United, Wolverhampton W and Nottingham F each with 84 cards.
Arsenal, in comparison with Chelsea’s 75 yellow cards this season, have 52 yellows, placing them in 15th position. So not one of the dirty teams.
But here is another interesting statistic that we are not generally informed about: the yellow cards are awarded for fouls, unprofessional activities and “otber” matters. For yellow cards from fouls, Arsenal are actually in 19th position, but when it comes to “other” issues, Arsenal are second in the table on 25.
Now that seems a bit surprising to me, and I wanted to know what the other issues are, so I wrote to Who Scored who publish these figures, and while in the past they have been excellent in answering my questions, on this one, I didn’t seem to get any information at all. I’ll write again today, and if I get some data, I’ll let you know.
And of course, if you have any thoughts on what a card for”other” reasons is, do write in and let us know – and if possible please give the source of your information so we can explore it further.
What particularly fascinates me about the “other” reasons for yellow cards is what happens at the bottom of the table. For while Arsenal are 19th for yellow cards from fouls, they are second to Chelsea for yellow cards from “other” reasons!!!
Equally interesting is the issue of clubs with cards from “other” reasons that are the lowest in that statistic. For while Arsenal have 25 cards from “other” reasons Manchester City have nine, Tottenham Hots have eight and Liverpool have seven.
This low level of yellow cards from “other” reasons is really giving those clubs a very solid advantage over Arsenal, and if Arsenal could find out why they are getting these cards, then the club could take action to stop this from happening.
If I get a reply I will let you know, but there is another point here, before we get to that explanation – and that is that the explanation itself is not immediately available to everyone (unless of course I have missed it – in which case please do point out the reason to me, and I’ll make sure we can all see it).
Assuming I have not missed the data, the question is “Why is this being kept secret?” I would like to know.
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ManU v Arsenal, how one referee gives 5 times as many penalties as another
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