“It’s a joke,” Fulham manager blames poor standard of refereeing in their draw against Arsenal

Fans believe Arsenal's last season was a fluke as they have had a bad start to the new campaign.

“It’s a joke,” Fulham manager blames poor standard of refereeing in their draw against Arsenal

Marco Silva. (Source: via Fulham)

Marco Silva has made his opinion clear on refereeing standards after his side drew to the Gunners. An action-packed 2-2 draw at The Emirates saw his Fulham side attain a well-deserved 1 point after a late goal by João Palhinha equalized for The Cottagers.

“They are going to take all emotion from the game,” says Marco Silva. He further claimed that these decisions would “protect the big clubs.” Fulham’s claims come from the first yellow card given to Calvin Bassey after his apparent time-wasting for taking a slow goal-kick. A somewhat controversial moment however involved Bassey later on. For Arsenal‘s second goal, Chris Bassey was lying on the ground injured near the touchline. This meant that every player would be played onside due to the defender. Replays showed that Bukayo Saka had actually pulled the player by the arm and a foul should have been given.

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Marco Silva’s stance of poor refereeing has a basis. Only the third week and people have already begun complaining about the refs. For eg. Tomiyasu was given 2 controversial yellow cards against Crystal Palace. Manchester United were lucky to have not conceded a penalty against Wolves after Onana completely missed the ball and tackled the Wolves’ defender.

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With many criticizing the referees of the Premier League, do they need to be retrained and do another fitness test in terms of competency? Many believe them to be incompetent.

Related: “I’m just copying Pep,” Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou hits back at Gary Neville over allegations of emulating Pep Guardiola’s gameplay

Arsenal’s title hopes

The Gunners' 22/23 squad.
The Gunners’ 22/23 squad. (Source: via Arsenal)

Arsenal will be looking to end almost 20 years without a Premier League title. Arsenal who spent almost 90% of last season at first place were 5 points ahead of City by Christmas. However, City kept winning over and over as Arsenal slowly started to capitulate under pressure. Arsenal ended in second place, 5 points behind City.

The team played beautifully throughout the season and were winning games not only due to fantastic teamwork but also individual brilliance. It’s hard to single out a single player but two that stood out were Saka and Saliba. Mikel Arteta‘s team suffered when Saliba went out injured. A clear indication that 1-2 injuries to main players hurt the team immensely.

Arsenal have now strengthened their squad with the likes of Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, and Jurrien Timber. With these additions, Arteta will be hoping to finally win the title after bottling it last season.

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