- Arsenal returned to winning ways after beating Brighton 2-0 at on Sunday
- Mikel Arteta was booked again for dissent, his fourth yellow of the season
- Round 2 to the Rooneys? WAGatha Christie goes to the pitch on Monday – It’s All Kicking Off
Mikel Arteta and referees. A combination which doesn’t mix, a bit like oil and water.
Yet it’s now starting to get rather silly. The Spaniard, who today received his fourth yellow card, is joint-second in cautions at Arsenal with Gabriel Jesus. Only Kai Havertz and Ben White have more yellow cards across all competitions with five each.
The wider context makes it all the more bewildering.
On Thursday night, an independent panel cleared Arteta of an FA charge for his referee rant following Arsenal’s defeat to Newcastle. That required the North London club to use a criminal defence lawyer to beat a drawn-out case which lasted nearly six weeks.
You would assume the matter will have awoken his senses as to touchline conduct. Particularly after having to watch his side’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa from the stands for accruing a third yellow for leaving his technical area to celebrate Declan Rice’s winner against Luton.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was again booked for dissent during his side’s win over Brighton
Arteta’s yellow comes just a week after servin a one-match touchline suspension at Villa Park
Only Ben White (left) and Kai Havertz have been booked more for Arsenal than Arteta
By this afternoon, the Gunners boss was carded for wildly gesturing towards referee Tim Robinson, both arms waving as he jumped up and down after Bukayo Saka was tugged back by Kaoru Mitoma. A foul, yes. A cause for animated reaction, no.
Robinson trotted over to issue a yellow to Arteta. Chants of ‘w***er’ rung out from the home supporters, before a song lauding ‘Super Mikel Arteta’.
As Mail Sport’s ‘Stop Abusing Referees’ campaign has tirelessly highlighted, it’s an area that continues to be flouted. And it is not helped by the dissent shown by high-profile managers such as Arteta. It is emboldening and justifying the heckling of officials.
You can sympathise with heightened emotion. As he valiantly argued at his Friday press conference, a referee’s decision can be the difference between a manager being sacked or staying. When an official does get it wrong, sometimes a reaction cannot be helped.
Yet the problem here is different. The Gunners boss is crossing the boundaries, both in terms of the guidelines and his technical area, on a regular basis — even when there is little cause to, like when Saka was pulled back today.
A fourth yellow card, which puts him in the mix to be his club’s worst offender despite not having played a single minute, before Christmas is astonishing.
It now may take for the FA to properly clamp down on this issue to finally put an end to these constant infringements.
