Graeme Souness reveals how Arsenal are conning referees ‘every single week’

Graeme Souness believes Arsenal are conning referees ‘every week’ and says referees need to ‘wake up’ to their antics on set-pieces.

Mikel Arteta’s side were accused of employing the ‘dark arts’ during last weekend’s thrilling 2-2 draw with Premier League title rivals Manchester City.

Arsenal went defensive after going down to ten men on the stroke of half-time and their tactics almost worked a treat as Man City struggled to find an equaliser despite their numerical advantage.

City did eventually find the breakthrough – John Stones scoring deep into injury-time to rescue a point – but several members of the Etihad squad were still unhappy with Arsenal’s tactics.

Stones described Arsenal as ‘dirty’ while Bernardo Silva accused the title-chasing Gunners of ‘time-wasting’ as they tried to hang on to a famous win in Manchester.

In response to the criticism, Arsenal boss Arteta said he would be ‘thick’ to adopt any other tactics, sparking a back and forth with Manchester City counterpart Guardiola.

While ‘respecting’ Arsenal’s approach, Souness says he ‘did not like’ what he saw from the Gunners and has accused the Gunners of conning referees ‘every week’ during set-piece routines.

‘I know Man City are the very best at keeping the ball and are the very best passing team at this moment in time,’ Souness wrote in a column for the Daily Mail.

‘And I know Mikel Arteta will point out that his team were only 30 seconds away from ­winning the game, having kept City out until the 98th minute.

‘But I believe playing that way was foolhardy and dangerous because of City’s qualities. If you play 100 games like that, 95 times you will concede because there’s so much action in the box and the ball only once has to fall to the wrong person. On Sunday, it was John Stones.

‘I know how I would have felt, on Sunday night and a few days afterwards, if I’d been a player in that Arsenal team, having left Manchester knowing that City had been so much better than my own side.

‘No one in Mikel’s squad will be admitting it. But the big-player mentality is that you think you are the best player on the pitch. The best in your position in the country.

‘No one in that Arsenal team will have enjoyed being dominated like that. Despite the big shifts put in for the cause, I simply don’t know what they take away from that game, other than the obvious point.

‘I fully understand that when you go down to 10 men, it has to be a different approach. But the negativity Arsenal showed may psychologically damage them going forward, as they must feel inferior to Manchester City after that.

‘They have to park that now and get back to the football we’ve seen from them in the past few years.

‘City’s players accused Arsenal of employing ‘dark arts’ in the game, though nothing I saw in that second half particularly ­surprised me.

‘Time-wasting has always been part of the game and every team is guilty of it on ­occasions. It’s nothing near as bad as the exaggerated ­‘simulation’ that we see every weekend in our football.

‘I also just don’t know when ­referees will wake up to what Arsenal do at set-pieces and ­corners.

‘An accurate kicker of the ball delivers it under the crossbar, where aggressive ­players attack it, pinning and fouling the ­goalkeeper.

‘It happened again at City. Gabriel ­Martinelli walks in, turns his back on the goal to obstruct Ederson and Gabriel scores. Do that anywhere else on the pitch and it’s a foul.

‘If I was facing Arsenal, I would be taking three or four of my team-mates in front of the referee and pointing out to him what’s about to happen.

‘Arsenal are getting away with it every week. They rotate the blockers, so the dummy referees don’t see it and deal with it.’

Arsenal, who are seeking their first Premier League title since 2004, scored two injury-time goals to beat Leicester City 4-2 on Saturday.

Manchester City dropped points in a 1-1 draw at Newcastle United, while Liverpool won at Wolves to climb to the top of the Premier League after six games.

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