Arsenal will aim to continue their winning form on Sunday as they travel across London to face West Ham, but it will not be easy.
Although David Moyes’ side are winless in their last six in all competitions, their last victory came at the Emirates in a 2-0 shock win in December.
Arsenal drew 2-2 last season when they went to the London Stadium during the run-in and also lost 3-1 there in the Carabao Cup in November.
There are some bad omens ahead of Sunday’s game, despite coming fresh off an outstanding victory against Liverpool, and the nerves amongst fans will not have been helped by the choice of referee for the game.
Craig Pawson selected for West Ham vs Arsenal
The Premier League have confirmed that referee Craig Pawson will officiate Sunday’s game, with John Brooks on VAR.
Pawson is a referee Arsenal are familiar with for all the wrong reasons. Fans will vividly remember a defeat away at Wolves in February 2021, which saw Mikel Arteta’s side take the lead through Nicolas Pepe, before a series of contentious decisions saw David Luiz sent off and a penalty awarded to Wolves on the verge of half-time.
Luiz had barely made any contact with Wolves striker Willian Jose, and was surprisingly given a red card in addition to the Wolves penalty for an action which was arguably not even a foul.
Wolves then scored another before Bernd Leno was sent off, in what was a calamitous defeat, and both players and fans were furious with Pawson at full-time.
Former midfielder Granit Xhaka uploaded, and then deleted, a dig at Pawson on Instagram, whilst Hector Bellerin also posted a picture of Pawson and then-Wolves star Conor Coady after the game.
Arsenal’s record with Craig Pawson
Pawson has refereed Arsenal games on 29 occasions, with the Gunners winning 16, drawing three and losing 10 of these encounters.
He has also given Arsenal 50 yellow cards in this time, with 69 dished out to the opposition, and has also awarded four penalty kicks against the club.
Arsenal have actually won their last five games under Pawson, which included last season’s 2-0 victory away at Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby. Despite his fairly solid record overall though, he is still remembered unfavourably for the David Luiz red card incident.
West Ham also benefitted from a controversial Pawson decision last season as he failed to give Chelsea a penalty for a clear handball by Tomas Soucek.
Arsenal have had their fair share of run-ins with the PGMOL and FA over refereeing decisions, and it will be hoped that there is little discussion about Pawson after Sunday’s clash.
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