Arsenal fan's thread of referee decisions goes viral, convinced there's a conspiracy against them

An Arsenal fan has dug deep into the archives to pick out some of the glaring referee mistakes that have cost the Gunners over the years.

Last Saturday, Arsenal were poised to win 1-0 against Brentford after Leandro Trossard’s goal in the 66th minute.

However, Ivan Toney grabbed an equaliser eight minutes later to make it 1-1. Arsenal were left seething after replays showed that Bees player Christian Norgaard was clearly offside when he crossed for Toney to score.

It was later revealed that VAR official on the day, Lee Mason, forgot to draw the offside lines.

This led to an apology from the PGMOL and it has also led to an Arsenal fan looking back through the years to pick out some glaring mistakes that have cost the Gunners.

The thread on Twitter starts with the infamous Mike Riley show during Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat against Manchester United, the game that ended the Gunners’ invincibility.

In the match, Wayne Rooney appeared to blatantly dive for a penalty that was given and scored.

There are some strange decisions within the thread, including the two yellow cards within seconds that Gabriel Martinelli received against Wolves last season, Robin van Persie’s controversial second yellow card against Barcelona in 2011 and David Luiz’s sending-off at Wolves in 2021.

Perhaps the most bizarre decision against Arsenal came during the 13/14 season. Arsenal were up against Chelsea and Andre Marriner gave a penalty to the Blues after an Arsenal player handled the ball inside the area.

Chelsea 6-0 Arsenal, 22/3/2014 - André Marriner sends off Kieran Gibbs after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain handballs it. pic.twitter.com/rPdKwNIZYi

— TheArsenal1913 (@TheArsenal1913) February 14, 2023

Marriner decided to give a red card to left-back Kieran Gibbs, but replays showed that it was in fact midfielder Alex Oxlade Chamberlain who should have been off.

Arsene Wenger was once sent to the stands by referee Mike Dean after he kicked out at a water bottle in another piece of strange officiating.

This season, Arsenal have had a fair share of unfortunate decisions. Against United, they had what looked like a legitimate goal ruled out after VAR decided Martin Odegaard had fouled Christian Eriksen in the build-up.

However, replays showed the contact was extremely minimal.

Man United 3-1 Arsenal, 4/9/2022 - Paul Tierney of Salford and Lee Mason of Bolton take away a legitimate goal from Gabriel Martinelli. pic.twitter.com/zUVlWlaznv

— TheArsenal1913 (@TheArsenal1913) February 14, 2023

Whilst what fans felt were stonewall penalties against Everton, Newcastle and Southampton were all waved away by the referee. You can see the full thread here.

Conspiracy from the referees against Arsenal? You can decide for yourselves.