Arsenal secure meeting with PGMOL over spate of red cards

Refereeing chiefs have agreed to a request from Arsenal for a meeting to discuss a number of decisions in their recent Premier League fixtures.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said he would like to speak to Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) after Gabriel Martinelli was sent off in a 1-0 win at Wolves on February 10.

It was the fourth red card the Gunners have been shown since the start of the year and the 15th of Arteta’s tenure, the Spaniard having taken charge in December 2019.

After making the request, Arteta said last week: “That’s happening soon, but obviously we have reported the opinion and the lack of understanding on the decision.”

The PA news agency understands that PGMOL has now accepted the request and a meeting will take place in the near future.

While Arteta questioned some of the decision-making from officials, he stopped short of claiming there was now a stigma attached to his side.

“I don’t want to say anything like that,” he added.

“I just said that there has been various reasons and very different ones in the way that we’ve got those red cards.

“But somehow we have to stop it because it’s going to harm performances and results for sure and that has to be our aim and our focus and we can’t try to blame the refs.

“We have to believe that the referees are going to do what they have to do, and we have to believe that we’re going to do what we have to do. That’s it.”