5 referee decisions that have gone against Arsenal this season

Tiny margins can decide the course of a Premier League season, and in 2024/25, Arsenal have often come out on the wrong end of such calls.

First, it must be said that Liverpool are worthy champions. Their form has sparkled in this post-Klopp era and they remain on track for a 90+ points final tally; Arne Slot deserves huge credit for his stellar debut efforts.

But you still need luck to become champions and the Gunners got precious little during the last eight months. Injuries, of course, proved a major hurdle and there were odd lapses in concentration (a 2-0 lead surrendered to Aston Villa, anyone?), though more than a small piece of our misfortune owes to questionable officiating – I’ll try to not make this a big whinge, I promise!   

Injustice can be difficult to accept, and here are five referee decisions that ticked that ‘unjust’ box for Arsenal this campaign.

5 times Arsenal have been screwed by Premier League officials this season

1. Declan Rice red card vs Brighton (August 2024)

The referee should not have sent off Declan Rice against Brighton and this is the hill I am willing to die on.

Of course, Chris Kavanagh was well within his rights to issue red: Rice DID ‘kick’ the ball away (it was more of a nudge, really) and thus delayed the restart, even if the free-kick was being taken from the wrong spot and the ball was rolling (who cares about those details?).

It was a silly thing for him to do - especially when on a yellow card – and, given the heightened focus on such offences earlier this year, I almost find it in my heart to forgive Kavanagh for his choice of the nuclear option.

But common sense ought to have prevailed. The touch from Rice was so benign, and the free-kick so, um, illegal, that surely a few words would have sufficed – the incident might then have been quickly forgotten.

Also, the focus on Rice’s ‘nudge’ seems strange given how Joel Veltman kicked quite wildly at the ball – a much more blatant, endangering act – and could perhaps have been sent off for violent conduct. In the end, the referee had (apparently) “no choice” but to dismiss Rice (did he have a choice when Joao Pedro kicked the ball away?) and Arsenal would go on to drop their first points of the season.

Though Kavanagh was ‘correct’ as per the rules, red cards are huge, game-changing calls and should be awarded judiciously – not for such minor infractions. But Rice gave him a decision to make and he duly dished out maximum punishment.       

One day I might come to terms with it.

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