‘Wow, I fell off my chair laughing’ – Ex-refs chief responds to official Arsenal stat, says what’s ‘so far from the truth’
Arsenal having just two decisions go both for and against them this season is difficult to believe due to the Premier League’s recent history of trying to deceive fans.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that the statistics on errors are hard to take at face value for any club.
According to the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel, there were only 18 VAR errors in the 2024–25 Premier League, a significant reduction from 31 in 2023–24.
Arsenal have been involved in a number of controversies this season, yet the KMI panel insist that just two errors have been made both in their favour and against them so far in 2024-25.
The controversial decisions involving Arsenal this season
Fans of any club will find that hard to believe, especially as Hackett recently told Football Insider that Man City‘s Bernardo Silva should have sent off against Arsenal after a bad tackle on Gabriel Magalhaes.
The Gunners have seen some calls go in their favour this season too, with Jurrien Timber lucky to avoid being sent-off against Sunderland last time out, according to Hackett.
PGMOL boss Howard Webb was also slammed by Hackett earlier in the campaign for his incorrect explanation of why Arsenal weren’t given a penalty against Newcastle for Nick Pope’s challenge on Viktor Gyokeres.
Keith Hackett laughs off Arsenal PGMOL error stat
When host Georgia Banks revealed that Arsenal had seen two refereeing errors go for and against them so far this season on Football Insider’s Final Whistle show, Hackett admitted that he did not believe such a statistic and questioned its validity after PGMOL’s shortcomings last season.
He said: “The problem you’ve got here is quite simple, who is recording the errors?
“IBecause frankly, when I saw that, last season, they (PGMOL) stated only 18 errors throughout the whole of 380 games, I just fell off my chair laughing.
“It was so far from the truth and reality. I’d just like to know who is making these decisions about what is right and what is wrong, because I think the numbers are much more than what is recorded by the PGMOL or the Premier League.“