Arsenal Arteta Webb
Keith Hackett
Tue 3 June 2025 12:00, UK
Keith Hackett expects PGMOL to take action to hold talks with Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta this summer about the club’s disciplinary issues during the 2024/25 season.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that talks are needed away from matches in order to allow a manager to influence his side’s discipline.
It proved to be a frustrating 2024/25 campaign for the Gunners, as they finished runners up in the Premier League for a third straight season, while also failing to win a trophy in the cup competitions.
There were several reasons for Arsenal coming up short in that respect, and those connected with the club will certainly feel that refereeing was one of them.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta will feel a number of decisions have gone against his side this season (Credit Imago)
Arsenal record intriguing disciplinary numbers
There were a number of officiating decisions that the Gunners felt went against them over the course of the most recent campaign.
The red card shown to Myles Lewis-Skelly away at Wolves, which was later overturned, was one such example of that.
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Indeed, over the course of the campaign, Arsenal had six players sent off in the Premier League, more than any other club in the division.
That is despite the fact the Gunners conceded 399 fouls in league games, with only three teams giving away a lower number over the season.
As a result, Arteta was unsurprisingly critical of how Arsenal were refereed this season, and Hackett believes talks between the Spaniard and PGMOL chief Howard Webb may now be needed.
Arsenal Arteta
PGMOL chiefs to pay visit to Mikel Arteta
After being asked by Football Insider if he thinks Arteta’s previous comments, and those disciplinary statistics could prompt PGMOL to hold talks with the Gunners boss before next season, Hackett said: “I think that when you start at the end of the season looking at the statistics of every club, and I had that in some instances, when you’ve got Arsenal, I think I would be saying I’m going to visit their training centre.
“I would take a referee and a referee’s coach with me to actually talk with the players, with the manager, around discipline.
“With the manager, take the six red cards they’ve had, I would examine them myself, and I would go and argue and say these are the areas where you can probably improve your discipline.
“But I think you need to have that away from the game discussion in order for the coach to influence if there’s a negative approach in the team, and you’ve got to be open to do that with all the clubs involved…
“I think it’s part of Howard Webb‘s role, it’s part of his role!… So getting into clubs and talking about these things I think is vastly important.
“And if Arteta‘s unhappy, then listen and explain, have a discussion. It’s part of the role as general manager of the referees at the PGMOL.”
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