- Nottingham Forest v Arsenal and which clubs have been doing really badly of late?
- If Arsenal really do need to sell, they have a lot of players who could balance the FFP books
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By Sir Hardly Anyone
According to data from WhoScored, Simon Hooper has overseen 12 games this season in the League so far, and is witnessing 23.50 fouls per game. Only two of the nine referees who have seen 12 or more games this season call more fouls per game.
Mr Hooper has called 0.68 fouls per tackle, and here only one referee (Robert Jones on 0.72) has seen more. As a result of this, plus undoubtedly a liking for the cards, Mr Hooper has waved 5.33 yellow cards per game – more than any other referee who has undertaken any games in the Premier League except for Darren England, whose figures may be affected by the fact that he has only overseen four games this season.
Mr Hooper is also near the top of the red card table having handed out three cards, while three referees have handed out four – but those referees have all overseen 13 games to Simon Hooper’s 12.
When it comes to results, and including only those referees who have overseen 10 or more Premier League games this season, we can once again see how some referees favour home wins, some away wins and some draws.
Simon Hooper is right up near the top for home wins this season, with 58.3% of his games ending this way. But with away wins we can compare his 25% of games with Andy Nadley who has seen 53.8% of his games end in favour of the away team. As for draws, Anthony Taylor sees 31.3% of his games as draws and Simon Hooper only 16.7%
| Referee | Apps | HomeWin% | AwayWin% | Draw% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stuart Attwell | 11 | 63.6 | 36.4 | 0.0 |
| Simon Hooper | 12 | 58.3 | 25.0 | 16.7 |
| Craig Pawson | 11 | 54.5 | 27.3 | 18.2 |
| Tim Robinson | 13 | 53.8 | 38.5 | 7.7 |
| Chris Kavanagh | 13 | 53.8 | 23.1 | 23.1 |
| Robert Jones | 13 | 53.8 | 15.4 | 30.8 |
| Michael Oliver | 13 | 46.2 | 38.5 | 15.4 |
| Anthony Taylor | 16 | 43.8 | 25.0 | 31.3 |
| Peter Bankes | 10 | 40.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 |
| John Brooks | 13 | 30.8 | 46.2 | 23.1 |
| Andy Madley | 13 | 30.8 | 53.8 | 15.4 |
| Paul Tierney | 13 | 23.1 | 46.2 | 30.8 |
So quite clearly we have a referee whose games generally end in favour of the home team. But let us compare what this referee sees with what happens across the Premier League this season.
This season 68 games in the Premier League have been away wins, out of 208 games played which is a little over 33%. So Simon Hooper, seeing only 25% of his games as away wins, is somewhat out line with the average, and a divergence from the norm of this level certainly suggests there may be a significant tendency on this referee’s part to be influenced by the crowd.
We’ve run these figures many times before, but they are still worth repeating since neither the PGMO nor the media in England will pick up on these outrageous statistics.
| Season | Home wins | Away wins | Draws |
| 2020/21 (no crowds) | 38% | 40% | 22% |
| 2021/22 (with crowds) | 47.5% | 30% | 22.5% |
These figures and the research that followed them up which proved that the reason for the change was the noise of the crowd, are fundamental to understanding what Premier League referees get up to, and why the results are as they are. It is the crowd that has an effect primarily on the referee – and that should never be.
You can read our review of the LSE research which we have regularly reported but which is studiously ignored by the PGMO supporting media in England through that link.
And while looking at the stats you will be forgiven for not knowing that Arsenal have the second best away defence in the league, having conceded just 10 goals in 10 games. Only Liverpool beat Arsenal with 10 goals against in 11 games.
Nottingham Forest are 14th in the league in terms of goals scored at home, and seventh worst for goals conceded at home.
And I think this is a good moment to reflect on what has happened to referees since we started point out their propensity to deliver certain types of results.
Just counting the referees who are in the mainstream of Premier League games, getting a game each weekend and occasionally midweek too, we have people like Attwell with his 63.5% home wins, Andy Madley with his 53.8% away wins and Anthony Taylor with 31.3% draws.
This is clearly bonkers but occasionally when we have highlighted something like this the referee in question has come up with an unexpected result – which is rather interesting.
Finally here is one last thought. Simon Hooper has given out 5.33 cards per game this season as we have noted. 2.17 are for the home team, and 3.16 for the away team, a clear 10% bias in favour of the home team. He really should be considering this, and so should PGMO.
