The fact that Saka was viciously tackled by the opponent so many times forced Arsenal to submit comments to the British Referees Association (PGMOL).
As Arsenal’s most important player, Bukayo Saka always becomes the top foul target for Premier League defenders. Not only committing tactical fouls, opposing players often tackled the 22-year-old star with destructive tackles but were repeatedly overlooked by the referee.
Frustrated with the above situation, Arsenal recently submitted a petition to the British Referees Association (PGMOL). Accordingly, the Emirates Stadium team affirmed that Saka was the target of dangerous fouls by opposing players and expected the referees to be strict and fair to protect the players’ safety.
In addition, the “Gunner” also said that many referees often wait until the second or third dangerous fouls to card a player who intentionally targets Saka. Currently, PGMOL has received the complaint from the Emirates Stadium team and will reach a conclusion in the next few days.
Previously, Arsenal also repeatedly criticized the referees on this issue. Coach Mikel Arteta believes that the “black kings” need to protect talented young players like Saka from harsh fouls.
According to Premier League statistics, Saka is the third most fouled player in the 2022/23 season with 87 times, only behind Jordan Ayew of Crystal Palace (117 times) and Bruno Guimaraes of Newcastle (92 times). However, only 12 of those fouls resulted in a yellow card for the opponent, which means an average of one yellow card for every 7.25 fouls against Saka.
Recently, Saka continuously had heel-related problems and had to compete because he was not in the best condition. That is also part of the reason why he only scored 1 goal in the last 6 matches for Arsenal.