Arsenal have been on the wrong end of several controversial refereeing decisions this season, and it could cost them in the title race.
Mikel Arteta’s side are still unbeaten in all competitions, and their only dropped points in the Premier League have come in games in which they were reduced to 10 men.
Arsenal have had two players sent off in controversial circumstances this season. Declan Rice was given a second yellow card against Brighton for ‘delaying the restart’ after Joel Veltman kicked the ball at him, and Leandro Trossard was sent off against Manchester City for a similar offence.
Arsenal fans are furious at the lack of consistency when it comes to these decisions, as Liverpool’s Dominik Szobozslai and Brighton’s Joao Pedro avoided punishment for the same offences.
Webb has claimed that the different game states in Trossard and Szobozslai’s incidents justified the different decisions, but Arsenal legend Ian Wright has now questioned him over the rules.
Ian Wright questions Howard Webb over rules behind Arsenal red cards
Speaking on the Stick To Football Podcast, Wright questioned Webb over why players were being excessively punished for delaying restart offences, highlighting the absurdity of Rice’s sending off against Brighton.
“On the sending offs for delaying the restarts – I know it’s happened to two Arsenal players. Do we really want to see players getting off for that?” Wright asked.
“You’re asking about the Declan Rice one right? The Trossard one – he was a bit stupid wasn’t he,” Gary Neville interjected.
“Veltman knew exactly what he was doing. Players getting sent off for that – come on Howard. If we’re going to go deeply into it, there was no one to pass the ball to, he wasn’t ready, Veltman knew what he was doing,” Wright added on Rice’s red card.
“We speak to a whole range of people in terms of what the points of emphasis need to be of things creeping into the game. Collectively, we looked at it and said ‘what can we do to make sure the game maintains its flow and tempo,’ effective playing time is coming right down,” Webb responded.
“We then identified some examples to show to players, to say ‘if a free kick is about to be taken, and you poke the ball away, even if it’s only two yards away, you’re going to get a yellow card for that.’
“The way to avoid a card is to not poke the ball away. Leave the ball alone, it’s not your free kick. That wouldn’t have been a red card if he had just left the ball alone.”
Arsenal fans will be furious at Howard Webb verdict over Declan Rice red card
Webb has stated that if players avoid the ball, they will not be carded for kicking it away to delay the restart.
However, in the case of Rice against Brighton, Veltman kicked the ball at Rice as he was walking away, with it hitting the back of his foot. Veltman was not penalised, but Rice was despite contact being unavoidable.
Arsenal fans will again be furious at Webb for the lack of consistency applied when it comes to decisions surrounding their players, and they are likely going to focus on any repeat incidents for the rest of the season, and how they are refereed in each different scenario.
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