Pro Ref suffers bad weekend with Arsenal and Manchester United errors | OneFootball

Arsenal finished the weekend top of the Premier League, but refereeing decisions involving Sunderland and Manchester City have left more questions for Howard Webb and Pro Ref.

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Pro Ref (formerly PGMOL) endured another damaging Premier League weekend in which one major error has already been acknowledged, another controversial decision is set to prompt contact from Arsenal, while questions have again been raised over the consistency with which matches involving the Gunners are being refereed.

Arsenal to contact Pro Ref over Sunderland penalty

Arsenal are expected to contact Howard Webb and Pro Ref on Monday seeking an explanation for the penalty awarded to Sunderland during Saturday’s match at the Stadium of Light.

The decision ultimately did not cost Arsenal, who went on to win, but that does little to lessen the concern over how the decision to award it was reached.

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Henry Winter reports that Arsenal intend to raise the incident after Dan Ballard was judged to have been fouled by Ezri Konsa. The footage appeared to show Ballard pulling Konsa to the ground by his shirt before the pair fell.

Mikel Arteta was furious despite Arsenal eventually taking all three points.

“I watched it 10 times. It’s a judo roll. It just cannot happen…this should never happen, it’s not fair, and I am sad, very sad, in that sense,” he said after the match.

The damage was limited because David Raya saved Enzo Le Fee’s penalty and Bruno Guimaraes scored two minutes later.

Had Sunderland converted, Arsenal’s task would have been considerably more difficult.

Former referee Mark Halsey also believed the decision was wrong.

“When you look at an incident, you can clearly see in my opinion, that Ballard committed the first offence,” he said.

“He’s got hold of Konsa’s arm, so he’s pulled him around and they’ve both ended up on the floor. Then it looks like Konsa has tumbled into Ballard. For me, I think that Ballard has committed the first offence and it’s not a penalty.

“I know that they’ve set a high bar now in VAR getting involved but I think that was one where they should have got involved because Ballard committed the first offence.”

Former Swansea City defender Ashley Williams reached the same conclusion on Match of the Day.

“I think [the referee has] got it completely wrong,” Williams said. “Mikel Arteta’s right, it’s almost a perfect hip toss, like in judo. If you look at Ezri Konsa’s elbow getting driven down, he can’t do anything about it at this point, he has to roll over. If anything, this has to be a foul the other way.”

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank agreed.

“I completely agree, I don’t think it’s a penalty.”

Pro Ref admit Manchester derby mistake

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That alone would have provided Pro Ref with an uncomfortable weekend.

Sunday made matters worse.

Manchester City were allowed to beat Manchester United 1-0 through a goal Pro Ref have since admitted should have been reviewed differently.

On-field referee Michael Oliver had earlier sent off Phil Foden for violent conduct while Bruno Fernades’ kick at the same player was ignored, but City were handed the decisive goal when Erling Haaland converted despite Enzo Fernandez being in an offside position and making a clear attempt to play the ball.

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VAR Matt Donohue did not recommend that Oliver review the incident, and Pro Ref subsequently acknowledged the error.

“The VAR did not recognise the likely impact of [Enzo Fernandez’s] position and should have recommended an on-field review.

“Contact has been made with Manchester United this evening to acknowledge what we deem is an error of judgement. A review of the incident will take place.”

Donohue is understood to be a Tottenham supporter, with reports that he previously held a season ticket.

He has officiated Manchester United matches seven times, Chelsea five times, Liverpool four times and Manchester City three times, but has not worked on matches involving Arsenal or Tottenham themselves.

Officials are required to declare conflicts of interest and are then excluded from matches involving their favoured club or its direct rivals.

Donohue is not, however, excluded from Manchester City fixtures.

Former Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney was baffled by the decision to award the goal.

“To not see that and recognise that Enzo Fernandez is in an offside position… anyone who’s played the game at any level understands that and knows that he’s in an offside position,” he said. “So to get it so wrong, it’s just baffling.”

Sunderland time-wasting figures deepen concern

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For Arsenal, the frustration extends beyond one penalty decision and one Manchester City goal. The handling of Saturday’s match at Sunderland also produced a striking discrepancy in how referee John Brooks dealt with time-wasting.

Brooks overturned one Arsenal throw after deciding Riccardo Calafiori had taken too long. Calafiori had taken 18 seconds.

The figures from the rest of the match tell a different story.

According to Scott Willis of Cannon Stats, Arsenal averaged 12.2 seconds over their throw-ins. Three took longer than 20 seconds and none exceeded 30.

Sunderland averaged 22.5 seconds.

Willis recorded Sunderland taking “12 that took longer than 20 seconds, 5 that took longer than 30 seconds, and 3 that took longer than 40 seconds.”

Even after removing Sunderland’s long throws, which are not subject to the new five-second rule for ‘reasons’, the home side still had five throw-ins taking more than 20 seconds.

Brooks did not reverse a single Sunderland throw for taking too long.

Questions over narrative refereeing remain

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That disparity feeds into a wider concern around the way Arsenal matches are being officiated, particularly when narratives around the team appear to be influencing decisions.

Last season Sunderland moved their advertising hoardings closer to the pitch in an attempt to disrupt Arsenal long throws that they were not even taking. The Brighton & Hove Albion manager complained about Raya taking too long to distribute the ball despite him being one of the quickest goalkeepers in the league and Brighton one of the slowest.

Rules at corners have also changed this season in what has widely been deemed an ‘anti-Arsenal’ move, despite Arsenal not being the side using the so-called ‘meat-wall’.

Saturday supplied another example.

Ballard was awarded a penalty despite appearing to roll Konsa to the ground. The Match of the Day commentary described the incident as though Konsa had taken his eyes off the ball to concentrate on Ballard, while TNT Sports supported the original decision and repeated the suggestion that Arsenal had spent much of last season fouling opponents in the penalty area without punishment.

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The footage showed Konsa continuing to watch the ball until Ballard rolled him to the ground, at which point his gaze dropped.

There were other contentious moments.

Brooks allowed Martin Odegaard to be stamped on without even awarding a free-kick, while VAR Stuart Attwell did not intervene over the Sunderland penalty.

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Gabriel was booked while acting as peacemaker during another confrontation, and fourth official Elliott Bell reported Arteta for leaving his technical area, resulting in the Arsenal manager also being shown a card.

Taken together, Arsenal were being judged by one standard and Sunderland by another.

Nor was Saturday the first significant decision to go against Arsenal this season.

The KMI panel has already accepted that Arsenal should have been awarded a penalty, with a red card shown, when Guimaraes was brought down against Aston Villa.

That leaves Arsenal on the wrong end of two major incorrect penalty decisions – and a red card – in the first four Premier League matches.

There is a distinction between referees simply making mistakes and the concern now surrounding Arsenal.

The latter is whether assumptions about the team are beginning to affect how incidents are interpreted before the evidence itself is properly considered.

The weekend has done little to ease those concerns.

Arsenal top despite another difficult weekend for officials

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Pro Ref have already admitted that Manchester City’s winning goal at Old Trafford should have prompted an on-field review.

Arsenal are now preparing to ask Webb and the organisation for answers over a penalty that several former professionals and a former referee believe should never have been awarded.

Despite it all, however, Arsenal ended the weekend top of the Premier League.

Same referee awaits Arsenal in the League Cup

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Their next domestic cup appointment will at least come without VAR.

The EFL have confirmed that Peter Bankes will referee Arsenal’s League Cup tie away to Ipswich Town on Tuesday, assisted by Constantine Hatzidakis and Alex James, with Josh Smith as fourth official.

There will be no VAR because the EFL only deploys the system in rounds where every stadium being used has access to the technology.

Bankes also refereed Arsenal’s League Cup semi-final second leg against Chelsea and the final against Manchester City last season, meaning he will now take charge of the Gunners for a third consecutive match in the competition.

His Arsenal record has largely avoided controversy.

The biggest mistake associated with one of his matches was the offside missed when Brentford drew with Arsenal in 2023, but the initial error belonged to the assistant referee and was then compounded by the VAR official ‘forgetting’ to draw the lines.

After the weekend Pro Ref has just had, Arsenal may regard the absence of VAR on Tuesday as no bad thing.

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