Mikel Arteta and referees. A combination which doesn’t mix, a bit like oil and water.
Yet it’s now starting to get rather silly. The Spaniard, who today received his fourth yellow card, is joint-second in cautions at Arsenal with Gabriel Jesus. Only Kai Havertz and Ben White have more yellow cards across all competitions with five each.
The wider context makes it all the more bewildering.
On Thursday night, an independent panel cleared Arteta of an FA charge for his referee rant following Arsenal’s defeat to Newcastle. That required the North London club to use a criminal defence lawyer to beat a drawn-out case which lasted nearly six weeks.
You would assume the matter will have awoken his senses as to touchline conduct. Particularly after having to watch his side’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa from the stands for accruing a third yellow for leaving his technical area to celebrate Declan Rice’s winner against Luton.
By this afternoon, the Gunners boss was carded for wildly gesturing towards referee Tim Robinson, both arms waving as he jumped up and down after Bukayo Saka was tugged back by Kaoru Mitoma. A foul, yes. A cause for animated reaction, no.
Robinson trotted over to issue a yellow to Arteta. Chants of ‘w***er’ rung out from the home supporters, before a song lauding ‘Super Mikel Arteta’.
As Mail Sport’s ‘Stop Abusing Referees’ campaign has tirelessly highlighted, it’s an area that continues to be flouted. And it is not helped by the dissent shown by high-profile managers such as Arteta. It is emboldening and justifying the heckling of officials.
You can sympathise with heightened emotion. As he valiantly argued at his Friday press conference, a referee’s decision can be the difference between a manager being sacked or
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