Referee Jarred Gillett disallowed Kai Havertz's goal vs Aston Villa on Saturday(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt)

Arsenal complaints over VAR decision grow as referee Jared Gillett Liverpool connection emerges

Arsenal news as fans' anger around VAR decision leads to conspiracy theory as referee's Liverpool connection emerges

11 Dec 2023, 16:00 by Josh Holland · football.london

Arsenal's frustration with PGMOL and Premier League referees continued over the weekend after Jarred Gillett denied Kai Havertz's injury-time goal in the 1-0 Premier League defeat to Aston Villa.

The Gunners suffered only their second defeat of the season at Villa Park after John McGinn's early strike continued Unai Emery's fantastic turnaround in the Midlands. "I'm very disappointed with the result, especially with the way we played, I think we deserved much more than what we had, I thought we were the better team, I haven’t seen a team do what we did to Villa today since we were here in February," Mikel Arteta said.

"It wasn’t enough to win it because we lacked the accuracy in the opponent's box to put the ball in the back of the net with the amount of situations that we generated."

Like the narrow loss at Newcastle last month, the defeat at Villa was overshadowed by a number of controversial calls from the officials. Arsenal target Douglas Luiz escaped conceding a penalty for a foul on Gabriel Jesus before Havertz saw his late equaliser disallowed for handball.

A scrappy piece of play resulted in the German bundling the ball over the line. However, celebrations were short-lived as Gillett immediately chalked the goal off after spotting handball in the build-up.

Replays appeared to show the ball ricocheting off both Havertz and Cash's arms, but VAR did not overturn the decision and Villa went on to win the game. The decision hasn't gone down well with supporters and Arteta was also vexed.

Asked about the penalty and disallowed goal, the Spaniard said: "Clear and obvious. Clear and obvious. That's what I mean." He added: "That's my opinion, that's all I can say."

However, supporters haven't held back on their criticism of Gillett's decision, with some believing they have identified the reason why the goal was disallowed. Gillett is a Liverpool fan. Liverpool replaced Arsenal at the top of the Premier League over the weekend.

Fox Sports commentator Brenton Speed revealed Gillett's allegiance in 2019, claiming he isn't allowed to referee Liverpool games. "He told me about this a couple of months ago, said keep it under your hat because I’m not sure whether I’ll get the appointment," Speed said on the Fox Football Podcast.

"That’ll be the last game he ever officiates at Anfield because he had to fill out a document when he agreed to join the referees' board over there and you have to fill in the team you supported as a boy/man and he said it was Liverpool.

"So that means your taken off all their games, home or away."

And it's fair to say the referee's loyalty to Liverpool has been questioned following the weekend's decision. Here is a sample of what they've had to say...

@MrDtAFC: So the referee who disallowed our goal yesterday and did not award us a penalty is actually a Liverpool fan. I told you before and I'll say it again. CORRUPT!!!!

@TsikoGunner: At this point everyone knows what’s going on. They keep exposing themselves big time again n again. There is no way we achieve something big I just hope at some point justice will be served and the responsible ones face the legal consequences of their actions. They are criminals

@afcDW: Win, lose, or draw, Jarred Gillett is not a Premier League-standard referee. And I say that knowing that the current standard of the league is not high.

@justJelAFC: Well well well, who would’ve thought Gillett’s a Liverpool fan

@AFC_Konrad: Jarred Gillett really not trying to hide his bias

@JakNetting: Jarred Gillett is a Liverpool fan… who’d have thought? One day fans will put allegiances aside and rightly call out situations like this. Until such a day, the game is in real trouble.