Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is still claiming they get a worse deal from referees than any other team in the Premier League.
Wenger blamed bad decisions for the Gunners' back to back defeats by Fulham and Swansea in their two most recent games.
And his mood will not have been improved by the news Mike Dean will be in charge of their Sunday clash with Manchester United.
Arsenal have not won any of their last 10 games when Dean has been ref.
“I think if one team has been done badly recently it’s Arsenal," said Wenger, "and I don’t want to speak too much about that.”
But he went on:
“We were a bit unlucky with some decisions lately. Against Fulham, against Swansea, because we got the penalty [against us in the Swansea match] and God knows where it came from. It was just a good dive, and I said that after the game.
“It doesn’t mean we had to lose the game but still it was a bit unfortunate for us. At Fulham we got a penalty turned down on Gervinho - it’s the kind of thing that can happen. It went against us in the last two games.
“We want the right decisions to be made. Some people made a study of last season and we were second in the league, considering the decisions of the referees, and yet we finished fourth. It showed we were two points behind the leaders.
“(Robert) Pires once dived against Portsmouth, OK? For six months it was a story in the newspapers. (Swansea's Nathan) Dyer dived on Sunday and nobody said a word.
“You cannot say it is exactly the same and it doesn’t matter. If it doesn’t matter when Dyer dives, why does it matter when Pires dives?
“Every team could come with complaints. It’s just a fact of the game that it happened in the last two and it’s not an excuse for us to lose the game. it’s just one of the the things that on the day didn’t go well.
“If one day you manage a club or you are a chairman of a club, you would feel exactly the same.”
Wenger surely has enough on his plate without wasting his energy worrying about referees.
Arsenal’s revival has hit the buffers, with the last six games producing only seven points.
While they will want revenge for their 8-2 humiliation by United at Old Trafford in August, the burning issue for Gooners fans this week is the lack of activity in the transfer market - especially as the squad has been decimated by injuries.
Arsenal have had four full-backs out but, with Thomas Vermaelen, Jack Wilshere and Bacary Sagna on the way back, Wenger insists his patched-up group is strong enough.
The fans are in uproar that the club is scrimping on transfer fees while charging some of the highest ticket prices in Europe.
“Our squad is strong enough, yes, (to finish fourth),” said Wenger. “If the players come back, we are strong enough. If we do not have the players back, we will struggle.
“Football is not a supermarket where you go in there and say, ‘Give me a left-back, please. And a right-back and a centre-back.’ We have to find the players better than what we have.
“When Vermaelen plays left-back, finding a better left-back for me is difficult. Vermaelen has missed two games, maybe another game Sunday. You cannot every time buy a player when you have an injury. Where do you finish?
“England is bankrupt. The whole of Europe is bankrupt and everyone continues to spend like nothing happened.
“Arsenal are not bankrupt. We manage in a sensible way at Arsenal and that’s why we are not bankrupt. We try to spend the money we have.
“What is unfair is the pressure on our wages is higher. Other clubs who do not look at the way they manage themselves pay huge wages. Then for us just to keep our players we are pushed to the limit with our wages, just to keep the players happy.
“Some clubs have unlimited resources. That’s why financial fair play is needed.
"It’s not only for the clubs to manage well, they can pay £10m per month if they can. But they put pressure on smaller clubs who have less resources. It’s not sustainable.”
Wenger admits his players will be desperate to prove a point against United after THAT miserable 90 minutes in Manchester almost five months ago.
“It was emotionally difficult, but it was not a final,” he said. “If you lose the final of the Champions League, it has more meaning than one game.
“When we lost at Man United we had still 35 games to play. It was three points lost in a humiliating way but we can come back.
“It was a massive disappointment for us to lose at that level, but what is important is that you do not play a football game for revenge, you play a football game because you want to win.”
By John Cross
Wenger blamed bad decisions for the Gunners' back to back defeats by Fulham and Swansea in their two most recent games.
And his mood will not have been improved by the news Mike Dean will be in charge of their Sunday clash with Manchester United.
Arsenal have not won any of their last 10 games when Dean has been ref.
“I think if one team has been done badly recently it’s Arsenal," said Wenger, "and I don’t want to speak too much about that.”
But he went on:
“We were a bit unlucky with some decisions lately. Against Fulham, against Swansea, because we got the penalty [against us in the Swansea match] and God knows where it came from. It was just a good dive, and I said that after the game.
“It doesn’t mean we had to lose the game but still it was a bit unfortunate for us. At Fulham we got a penalty turned down on Gervinho - it’s the kind of thing that can happen. It went against us in the last two games.
“We want the right decisions to be made. Some people made a study of last season and we were second in the league, considering the decisions of the referees, and yet we finished fourth. It showed we were two points behind the leaders.
“(Robert) Pires once dived against Portsmouth, OK? For six months it was a story in the newspapers. (Swansea's Nathan) Dyer dived on Sunday and nobody said a word.
“You cannot say it is exactly the same and it doesn’t matter. If it doesn’t matter when Dyer dives, why does it matter when Pires dives?
“Every team could come with complaints. It’s just a fact of the game that it happened in the last two and it’s not an excuse for us to lose the game. it’s just one of the the things that on the day didn’t go well.
“If one day you manage a club or you are a chairman of a club, you would feel exactly the same.”
Wenger surely has enough on his plate without wasting his energy worrying about referees.
Arsenal’s revival has hit the buffers, with the last six games producing only seven points.
While they will want revenge for their 8-2 humiliation by United at Old Trafford in August, the burning issue for Gooners fans this week is the lack of activity in the transfer market - especially as the squad has been decimated by injuries.
Arsenal have had four full-backs out but, with Thomas Vermaelen, Jack Wilshere and Bacary Sagna on the way back, Wenger insists his patched-up group is strong enough.
The fans are in uproar that the club is scrimping on transfer fees while charging some of the highest ticket prices in Europe.
“Our squad is strong enough, yes, (to finish fourth),” said Wenger. “If the players come back, we are strong enough. If we do not have the players back, we will struggle.
“Football is not a supermarket where you go in there and say, ‘Give me a left-back, please. And a right-back and a centre-back.’ We have to find the players better than what we have.
“When Vermaelen plays left-back, finding a better left-back for me is difficult. Vermaelen has missed two games, maybe another game Sunday. You cannot every time buy a player when you have an injury. Where do you finish?
“England is bankrupt. The whole of Europe is bankrupt and everyone continues to spend like nothing happened.
“Arsenal are not bankrupt. We manage in a sensible way at Arsenal and that’s why we are not bankrupt. We try to spend the money we have.
“What is unfair is the pressure on our wages is higher. Other clubs who do not look at the way they manage themselves pay huge wages. Then for us just to keep our players we are pushed to the limit with our wages, just to keep the players happy.
“Some clubs have unlimited resources. That’s why financial fair play is needed.
"It’s not only for the clubs to manage well, they can pay £10m per month if they can. But they put pressure on smaller clubs who have less resources. It’s not sustainable.”
Wenger admits his players will be desperate to prove a point against United after THAT miserable 90 minutes in Manchester almost five months ago.
“It was emotionally difficult, but it was not a final,” he said. “If you lose the final of the Champions League, it has more meaning than one game.
“When we lost at Man United we had still 35 games to play. It was three points lost in a humiliating way but we can come back.
“It was a massive disappointment for us to lose at that level, but what is important is that you do not play a football game for revenge, you play a football game because you want to win.”
By John Cross
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