by Andrew Crawshaw
As ever here is the official list courtesy of premierleague.com
Saturday 29 September
12:30 West Ham United v Man Utd
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett
Fourth official: Paul Tierney
15:00 Arsenal v Watford
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Assistants: Gary Beswick, Neil Davies
Fourth official: Martin Atkinson
Referee: Roger East
Assistants: Simon Beck, Andy Garratt
Fourth official: Jeremy Simpson
Referee: Craig Pawson
Assistants: Ian Hussin, Andy Halliday
Fourth official: Peter Bankes
Referee: Lee Mason
Assistants: Matthew Wilkes, Mick McDonough
Fourth official: Oliver Langford
Newcastle United v Leicester City
Referee: Simon Hooper
Assistants: Richard West, Daniel Cook
Fourth official: Mike Dean
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Peter Kirkup
Fourth official: Robert Jones
17:30 Chelsea v Liverpool
Referee: Andre Marriner
Assistants: Scott Ledger, Simon Long
Fourth official: Chris Kavanagh
Sunday 30 September
16:00 Cardiff City v Burnley
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Assistants: Stephen Child, Lee Betts
Fourth official: David Coote
Monday 1 October
20:00 AFC Bournemouth v Crystal Palace
Referee: Mike Dean
Assistants: Dan Robathan, Mark Scholes
Fourth official: Kevin Friend
Both Roger East and Simon Hooper earn their first whistles this week, Roger at Everton for the visit of Fulham and Simon at Newcastle for the visit of Leicester. Their introduction brings the total number of referees used this season to 17.
So in seven weeks there have been 70 games and each referee should have done 4 matches. Martin Atkinson and Anthony Taylor have each done seven so have not had a rest at all, Michael Oliver and Andre Marriner have each done 6 matches. All four of these referees are over-used. At the other end of the scale David Coote has done only 2 matches and so is under used.
There are also two new Fourth Officials this week. Welcome to Jeremy Simpson and Peter Bankes. Both have been regular referees in the Championship and in the League Cup this year.
We are at home to Watford and we have the ‘pleasure’ of having Anthony Taylor for the second time this year. He was in charge of our 3 – 2 away win at Cardiff on the 02 September. Two times in a month is just bloody ridiculous!
It would seem that Mr Taylor was his usual one-eyed self at Cardiff judging from the on-line comments posted by our lovely contributors during the match. Here are a selection (I have removed names for anonymity):-
- Should there have been a penalty on 5 minutes (Lacazette)?
- That should be a yellow at least.
- A player bumps Rambo in a rugby style tackle…with no intention to play the ball….
- Taylor doing some effective pitch-tilting. Ignoring Cardiff fouls. Carding Monreal. Magicking corners into goal-kicks
- Taylor waving away another penalty?
- Why doesn’t Taylor just stop the bloody game, award Cardiff 3 points and be done with it. This is a f’in disgrace
- Oh wonderful, another yellow to Arsenal. Cardiff credited with 8 fouls, and no cards. We are credited with 6 fouls, and 2 have cards.
- And another yellow to Arsenal, of course you have to book Xhaka.
- So, Taylor is now going to give 4 yellows to Cardiff in the last 2?
- I cannot believe they got a freekick for that “foul” on Arter. Laca literally didn’t even touch him, and not hyperbally, he literally didn’t, Arter kicked the floor. If we don’t win this game that will be yet another 2 points lost due to poor referring that directly leads to a goal against us.
- Anthony Taylor blowing the whistle for offside before Laca had even touched it or interfered with play, stopping Welbeck (who was onside) from having a one on one with the keeper. We got a few cheap freekicks earlier on in the game, but when it really mattered Cardiff were the ones being gifted with the big decisions.
- Despite Anthony Taylor’s efforts, we notched up a victory today. Taylor was disgraceful, and obviously unwilling to punish Cardiff fouling, until late in the game. How this joker managed to get hold of a FIFA badge is beyond me. What is he even doing on a football pitch in the first place? Sky “pundits” are refusing to deal with the elephant in the room, as usual.
Well Folks I have some bad but unsurprising news to break – Anthony Taylor is going to be exactly the same again on Saturday. We are not following the script set out by the ‘powers that be’ having risen to sixth place in the table following four consecutive victories.
A fifth win on Saturday would take us above Watford and into fifth place at least (or fourth with a favourable result in the Spurs match) and that is unlikely to be tolerated. We should expect the most tilted of pitches that the master tilter is able to achieve.
Expect Watford being given free rein to foul us with impunity, only an attack with a machete will result in an Arsenal penalty whilst a Watford player being blown over by a gust of wind with an Arsenal player within two metres will be sufficient for one being given to Watford.
It is a certainty that Xhaka will get a yellow card. You can add in the other tricks yourselves, you have all seen them ofter enough.
COYG
After the Bees, the Hornets. Arsenal v Watford and that home and away thing
Untold Arsenal (and Arsenal Belgium) get the VIP treatment at London Colney
Arsenal v Brentford: a tube strike, a pitch invasion, the moon, a hyperactive manager, the draw
I absolutely hate Taylor. I expect Watford will notch up about six ‘Taylor has just had a word, he’s lucky to get away with thats’ until our first moderate foul gains an immediate yellow. The old count up the fouls and punish Arsenals first one as it’s the eighth foul game. Useless Manc twat.
Unprofessional officials on the allegedly professional associations roster like Apprentice Taylor (he’ll never be ‘trusted’ like Dean) have and continue to damage and retard English Football:
Not fit to wear the shirt.
Arsenal (472:10:-08) vs Watford (413:01:-08)
Anthony Taylor is 7th in the Referee treatement league having overseen 11 treatments. Arsenal and Watford are even on having inflicted 8 treatments each. Arsenal has required 10 treatments this season, and Watford only 1. Must be Deeeeeeney and his cajones. Both Arsenal and Watford are over average in man-minutes of caution they play under (472 and 413 respectively). I would expect same number of cards to both teams.
—
State Aid (498:11:-09) vs (ManU (425:04:-11)
Paul Tierney 13th:6 – both teams like to kick the opposition, and they both get cautions for it. Tierney is likely to oversee a few treatments this week. State Aid to get more (or sooner) cards.
Huddersfield (362:05:-05) vs Spuds (292:05:-11) under Craig Pawson 1st:18. Pawson leads the referees with 18 treatments, and Spuds like to kick their opposition, seldom being booked for this. I expect lots of treatments, and possibly no cards to either team. Maybe Huddersfield gets 1 card, and probably late?
Man$ity (241:03:-11) vs Brighton (355:14:-06) under Lee Mason (3rd:13). Man$ity will kick Brighton all over the park, and will see little caution applied to them. Brighton is likely to require a few treatments. Brighton more likely to be carded, but probably not very early.
Chel$ea (220:02:-04) vs Liverpool!! (155:07:-06) under Andre Marriner (10th:10). Possibly no treatments, or maybe one to Liverpool!!. I doubt there will be any cards handed out, if there are cards probably very late.
Hmmm. This is a tricky one match for Arsenal to win tomorrow Saturday in their home match against Watford in the PL. More so, as referee Anthony Taylor is the centre referee to regulate proceedings in the match is an added tricky one for Arsenal to further cope with and win the match which they’ll win. Despite that it’ll make the players on both sides on the pitch for the match to become 11 physical Hornets plus another ghost one in referee Anthony Taylor the 12th Hornet in disguise in the match against the 11 Gunners on the field for the match. This is unlawful, lawless and absurd to to play 12 against 11 in a PL match. But it does happen in the PL when it’s a match involving Arsenal especially when Anthony Taylor, the Pgmo’s staunch anti-Arsenal referee is the centre referee in the match.
Arsenal might be fortunate if the anti-Arsenal referee whistling in this match does not extend to anti-Arsenal flagging in the match to include any of the 2 match assistants which will make it 11 Gunners playing against 13 Hornets in the game.
However, whatever be the unbearable level of any anti-Arsenal match whistling and anti-Arsenal match flagging that could happen in the match against Arsenal from referee Anthony Taylor and from any of his 2 match assistants, the Gunners are more than ready to deal squarely with the the ugly situation and come out clean in the game unhurt nor scratched at fulltime plus the added time of the match. As us the Gooners are very much aware that Arsenal have the antidote that nullified anti-Arsenal match whistling and match flagging in the PL, and it’s the same unfailing antidote the Gunners will apply against referee Anthony Taylor and any of his 2 match assistants who went haywire against Arsenal to nullify their illegal activities of any anti-Arsenal match whistling and flagging against Arsenal in their home match against Watford seemingly orchestrated by referee Anthony Taylor and any of his 2 match assistants in the match toward Arsenal. And the Gunners under their PL match antidote protection, will hit Watford with 3 un-replied goals in the game to coast home with all the 3 points at stake in the match.
Reading from Emery’s press conference ahead of Arsenal home match against Watford tomorrow in the PL, one can note that the dead leg Sokratis in now healed and available for selection for Watford.
Therefore, I will start him in my envisage Emery’s Arsenal 4-2-3-1 starts and 7 Gunners on the bench for the match to beat Watford as stated below.
Starts:
Cech
Bellerin Mustafi Socratis Monreal
Torreira Xhaka
Ramsey Ozil Aubameyang
Lacazette.
Bench:
Leno Lichtsteiner Holding Kolasinac Guendouzi Mkhitaryan Welbeck.
I am expecting Arsenal to seize the cojones of Troy Deneey from him immediately he stepped on the Emirates Stadium playing pitch and put them securely aside to make him play without having any cojones on in the game. But return them to him intact after the match has ended but during the playing of it in which Watford were soundly beaten 3 nil in the game to prevent his wife asking him the whereabouts of his cojones.
Can’t control what Anthony Taylor does…no matter his bias. For all that our press is still developing and as a result our players are still not reading when to press and when not, I like that they are getting stuck in more than in previous years. Yes, we can expect to get phantom fouls, however, at least the opposition will know that a foot will challenge them when they play us and I will take that.
I must not have had enough coffee, it is Michael Oliver in the State Aid game, not Paul Tierney (he is playing 4th official). I see two different commentaries, both showing a half time score of 2-0 to State Aid, but neither listing the second goal properly. That’s kind of odd. As near as I can tell, there haven’t been any treatments or cards yet.
State Aid getting slightly more possession. Moaninho gets sacked in the morning?