Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal 2021 review: best and worst moments of the year

By Ross Kennerley

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 07: Bukayo Saka of Arsenal celebrates with goalscorer Emile Smith Rowe during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Watford at Emirates Stadium on November 7, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 07: Bukayo Saka of Arsenal celebrates with goalscorer Emile Smith Rowe during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Watford at Emirates Stadium on November 7, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images) /
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Arsenal, Tomi
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 06: Takehiro Tomiyasu of Arsenal makes a point to referee Mike Dean during the Premier League match between Everton and Arsenal at Goodison Park on December 06, 2021 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images) /

Shock of the Season – Forgetting Red Cards Exist

Football is full of contentious decisions. Referees have one of the toughest jobs in sport and it’s for that reason that the footballing authorities decided to bring in a little thing called VAR.

Which apparently doesn’t work.

Arsenal have been able to thank VAR and poor refereeing across 2021, as they’ve got away with calls that were the shoe to be on the other foot would have sparked some outrage. However, two in particular that went against them are on their own planet: James McArthur’s karate kick on Bukayo Saka and Ben Godfrey’s stamp on Tomiyasu’s face.

There is no argument whatsoever that justifies neither of the two being sent off. McArthur tries to get to a ball that is on the other side of a human being by booting him as hard as he can in the back of the leg, while Godfrey has every opportunity to move his studs away from Tomiyasu’s face in their collision.

At least Arsenal got six points from those matches and the respective red cards wouldn’t have changed the course of the game, right?

Continued on next page…

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