Football with Faris: The week’s hottest stories from the beautiful game

This week the best two teams in the Premier League had an epic clash marred by a controversial refereeing decision, and big-spending Chelsea are getting derailed by the owners.

• Faris Gohir
• 24 September, 2024

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By: Faris Gohir

This week the best two teams in the Premier League had an epic clash marred by a controversial refereeing decision, and big-spending Chelsea are getting derailed by the owners.

Bad refereeing overshadows title clash

Arsenal should be proud of the defensive performance they put in against Manchester City. They competed with one fewer player for a whole half against the reigning champions away at the Etihad Stadium, but still managed to secure a 2-2 draw. A moment of poor defending from the Gunners allowed Erling Haaland to open the scoring. Riccardo Calafiori responded with an absolute scorcher as the Citizens were caught napping from a free kick, before Gabriel Magalhães nodded Arsenal into the lead with a header to make it 2-1. A thrilling match was ruined at the half-time whistle by shocking refereeing.

To put it bluntly, referees in this country are pathetic, power-hungry and trigger-happy, and that is being quite generous. Man City’s Jeremy Doku delayed a restart for an Arsenal free kick, and no yellow card was given. Seconds before half-time, referee Michael Oliver couldn’t wait to dish out a second yellow for Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard for, you guessed it, kicking the ball away. Trossard’s first yellow was harsh, but the second offence was naïve of him to give Michael Oliver a chance to steal the spotlight and ruin one of the biggest games of the season. What made it more of a mockery was that practically the whole Man City squad surrounded the ref, yet only one or two were booked for it. Every football fan’s problem is the sickening inconsistency. Arsenal did well to dig deep until the 97th minute, where their fans were left heartbroken as Man City got the equaliser in the dying embers through John Stones. Credit to City for rescuing a point, but their celebrations after drawing at home to a rival who was there for the taking after a red card were embarrassing. The irony was uncanny as Erling Haaland told Mikel Arteta to “stay humble” after the game while his own club is amidst a hearing for alleged 115 charges for a breach of financial rules. Perhaps Man City’s elation and Haaland’s antics show just how much of a threat Arsenal have become.

Will Chelsea civil war create more chaos?

I, like many other football fans, was mistakenly under the impression that Todd Boehly is the sole owner of Chelsea Football Club. In reality, he is not the majority shareholder but rather just the face of this new Chelsea. Earlier in the month, it was reported that the majority shareholder, private equity firm Clearlake Capital, and Boehly have clashed regarding the direction and ownership of the club. Boehly is reportedly keen on buying out Clearlake. It has been a whirlwind of chaos at Chelsea since Roman Abramovich was forced to sell, with over £1.3 billion spent and absolutely nothing to show for it. If anything, the money spent has added to the embarrassment of Chelsea’s 12th and 6th place Premier League finishes in the last two years, on top of losing a Carabao Cup final to what was effectively a Liverpool youth team. The transfer strategy is rather strange, seeming to involve stockpiling young players for the sake of it. Despite all the money spent, a ridiculous 43-man squad, and their sixth manager in charge during this new era with Enzo Maresca at the helm, Chelsea don’t look anywhere close to challenging for major honours anytime soon. It will take stability for the club to get back on track, but a battle between the owners won’t provide that.