Arsenal fans often feel hard done by when it comes to officiating in the Premier League.
Since Manchester United controversially ended the Gunners' famous 49-game unbeaten streak, supporters have been quick to voice their frustrations with officiating across the country. Most of the time these qualms have come across as excuses, falling on deaf ears but the north Londoners have every right to feel aggrieved after Saturday's torrid VAR blunder cost them all three points against Brentford.
Without going full tinfoil hat mode, football.london has taken a look at some of the contentious decisions to go against Arsenal this season and taken a look at what was said at the time by Mikel Arteta and co.
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Martinelli denied
Arsenal have lost just two Premier League matches this term, with their first defeat coming at Old Trafford against Manchester United back in September. The Red Devils secured a 3-1 victory that day but it could have easily gone very different for the visitors.
Talented forward Gabriel Martinelli thought he had broken the deadlock inside the first quarter of an hour, racing in behind the United backline before slotting the ball past an onrushing David de Gea. However, VAR urged the referee to go and check the onfield monitor before the goal was disallowed for a soft foul by Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard on United playmaker Christian Eriksen.
To add insult to injury, back in December ESPN picked out the incident as one of six VAR calls which were incorrect during the first half of the season. United then scored first through summer signing Antony before eventually securing all three points.
What Arteta said: "It's a lack of consistency. What is soft? Last week, they (Aston Villa) got a goal when there's a foul on Aaron [Ramsdale], but it's soft and it's not a foul.
"Then there's a penalty on Bukayo (Saka) but it's soft and not a penalty. Today this is a foul.
"There were some strong tackles and no yellow cards because the threshold is low because it's a big game. It's really difficult to accept."
Southampton howler
The next time Arsenal dropped points was in late October, held to a 1-1 draw by Southampton. Again, they were left frustrated by the officiating. Granit Xhaka opened the scoring during the early exchanges and the Gunners could have had the opportunity to make it 2-0 from the penalty spot if referee Robert Jones had deemed Duje Caleta-Car's wrestling on Gabriel Jesus to be a foul.
Former Premier League referee Keith Hackett claimed that it was a clear foul on Arsenal's No.9, calling Caleta-Car's physical approach 'grappling.' Speaking to Football Insider, Hackett said: "That’s a penalty kick for me.
"That photograph says it all. You cannot, as a defender, grab your arms around like that. Then we say, why has that not been penalised? Come on referees, this is grappling."
What Jesus said: "I spoke with him (Jones) straight after and he said: 'If you go down before, maybe I can give a penalty'. But I think I was fair.
"I tried to hold, tried to keep standing, tried to finish the action but at the end he grabbed me and it was impossible, so I go down normally."
Newcastle frustration
The first time Arsenal dropped points at the Emirates Stadium this season came at the hands of high-flying Newcastle United. The two sides played out a fairly dull 0-0 draw but again, the Gunners were disappointed by the refereeing on that day.
The Magpies has defended superbly on the day, although defender Dan Burn appeared to have pulled Gabriel Magalhaes' shirt in the box when the Brazilian international was attempting to get on the end of a set-piece. Burn's shirt pull quite clearly stops the former Lille centre-back from getting on the end of the cross but referee Andy Madley was unmoved and VAR chose not to interfere.
The ball then struck the arm of Newcastle winger Jacob Murphy in injury time but Madley and VAR again deemed it to not be a penalty, a decision that was probably spot on considering how close Granit Xhaka was to Murphy when attempting to cross the ball into the box. However, Arteta did not see it that way.
The Spaniard was criticised for his touchline behaviour during the match, constantly complaining to the fourth official for the refereeing decisions.
What Arteta said: "There were two penalties. It's very simple. I'm talking about what I've seen. It was two scandalous penalties,"
Everton disappointment
Everton are the latest side to hand Arsenal a loss, securing a 1-0 victory in Sean Dyche's first match as manager following Frank Lampard's dismissal. The Toffees dominated their encounter, no doubt outplaying the north London outfit at Goodison Park before James Tarkowski headed in the only goal of the game, converting a Dwight McNeil cross on the hour mark.
Still, the Gunners were frustrated by the decision to not award them a penalty on the day. Again, the aforementioned Gabriel was at the thick of it when Everton striker Neal Maupay appeared to bring down the Brazilian inside the 18-yard box.
VAR on the day John Brooks clearly acknowledged there was contact and took some time reviewing the coming together before eventually deciding it wasn't enough of a clear and obvious error to award the spot-kick. However, as per The Mirror, Brooks wouldn't have overturned the call if on-field official David Coote initially awarded a penalty.
The defeat was even more disappointing for Arsenal when television replays showed that Everton were incorrectly awarded the corner that they eventually scored from as the final touch actually came off of Alex Iwobi, not Gunners defender Ben White.
What former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher said: “It’s not a penalty", Gallagher told Sky Sports. "It’s clumsy, but I think he goes over Maupay as much as he goes into him.
"I actually thought the referee had a really good game in this one.”
Toney gift
Perhaps the most controversial incident of them all occurred on Saturday during Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Brentford. The north Londoners broke the deadlock when January signing Leandro Trossard poked home Bukayo Saka's low-cross in the 66th minute.
Bees striker Ivan Toney then netted an equaliser just eight minutes later, although it has since been revealed that VAR Lee Mason forgot to draw the relevant offside lines in the build-up to the goal. Midfielder Christian Norgaard, who assisted Toney, was in fact offside - a blunder that resulted in the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) contacting Arsenal and explaining the significant error.
What Arteta said: "I just looked at it back and it is offside. We'll probably be given an explanation later in the week but today we haven't got any.
"Looking at the images, you have to apply certain principles in defending and you do that by sticking to the rules and suddenly you apply different rules then you have to change your principles.
"So tell us before because then you don't hold the line that high because you're always going to have an advantage if you get blocked.
"It's too late, the goal was allowed, we dropped two points."
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