Brighton v Arsenal: the referee who favours the away team!

 

 

By Bulldog Drummond

• Brighton v Arsenal: why Brighton will go for a draw
• Arsenal are now most certainly on the up, while most top clubs are on the down

There are three ways of looking at the issue of refereeing in the Premier League.  One is to say by and large it is ok, and yes the referee might make occasional mistakes, but even if that is so they all even out in the end. 

The second is to say that actually the level of mistakes is far too high, and with all the technology around there really shouldn’t be nearly this many mistakes.   

The third is to argue that some referees are consciously or subconsciously biased.

And just as there are three possible ways of looking at refereeing in the Premier League there are three ways to respond to this.

First one can ignore the whole issue (which is what the media does), second one can say, “you are just making excuses for the failure of Arsenal” (which is what correspondents to Untold often have done over the years), and the third is to ask, “how can we make things better?”

And although it would seem obvious that the most important point is “how can we make things better?” very few people have asked this.  The media obviously won’t touch it because they don’t debate refereeing at all, and most bloggers and correspondents don’t touch it, because they go straight down the “you are making excuses for Arsenal” route.  So we are none the wiser.

My argument back is that we have been proposing ways to make things better, First  by removing the thick veil of secrecy that surrounds PGMO and instead adopting the German approach of openness (they interview referees on TV after the game).  And second when that is arranged, by having enough referees so that we only get each referee twice in a season, once at home and once away.  Given that the Premier League is the richest in the world there is no reason why this should not be achieved.

And yet, despite constantly trying to put that point across, the debate always gets lost in the responses that somehow we are just making excuses for Arsenal.  Whereas in fact, I think we are one of the few groups making a coherent argument in favour of reform, rather than just moaning.

So, against such a background, we move on to the referee for Brighton v Arsenal:  Anthony Taylor

Anthony Taylor is low in the charts of fouls per game seeing 14% fewer than David Coote – the most foul-orientated of the referees who have taken over 10 games in the League this season.

Taylor gives out 4.81 yellow cards per game, which is near the top for the more active referees.  Paul Tierney for example has given out only 3.52.

Put these figures together and we find that Mr Coote gives out 37% more cards than Mr Taylor which means how many cards a club gets depends on which referees that club sees.  It also makes it worth looking at the comparative yellow card level of Arsenal and Brighton.

Arsenal have the second lowest level of yellow cards this season – 38 so far – and again I feel moved to point out that so much fuss was made when Arsenal got three reds early on in the season, but no one now mentions how few yellows Arsenal have compared with, for example, Chelsea who have 56.  Meaning Chelsea are picking up half as many fouls again as Arsenal – and no one seems to note that, let alone ask why.

Brighton however are very much close to Arsenal in yellow terms having 39.

When we look at fouls, Arsenal have had 24 yellow cards from fouls, and Brighton 27, so hardly any difference there.   But Arsenal are second highest recipient of yellow cards for “other reasons”, and this I don’t understand, so I am today dropping a note to the compilers of these stats to ask if they can explain what are these “other reasons” for yellow cards, beyond fouling.   Who Scored have been good in the past in answering questions and doing it quickly so I hope to come back with more info soon.

But let’s finish with some interesting news.  Anthony Taylor has appeared as a referee 17 times this season.   Three of these games have been home wins, three have been draws and 11 have been away wins.   This is completely out of phase with the national average, so we approach the match in hope.

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