I Feel The Referees Don’t Work Enough – Arsene Wenger

Arsene Wenger was clearly angry at what he called “unacceptable” refereeing in the Premier League after Arsenal’s 3-1 loss at Manchester City and said that Raheem Sterling “dives well” after the forward won a penalty.

“Once again the referee made the decision today, with a soft penalty and an offside goal,” he told Sky Sports.

“But we are used to it when we come here. Last year we had two offside goals against us.

“I feel the referees don’t work enough, because their level drops every season at the moment. And overall it’s unacceptable what happens… At 2-1 we are in the game. And he gives a clear offside goal. And that kills the game for us.”

“I believe it was no penalty. It was a provoked penalty by Sterling. We know that he dives well, he does that very well.”

Wenger decided to start with Lacazette on the bench, while Francis Coquelin played in the centre of a back three alongside Laurent Koscielny and Monreal. Koscielny was the only true centre-back in the squad as Per Mertesacker was ill and Rob Holding has a thigh strain, Wenger said.

Still, he said he wasn’t tempted to switch formations because of his injury problems.

“You can speak all night, we are used to playing in that system now for a long time and he gave us some defensive guarantees,” Wenger said. “Overall I believe that was not our basic problem.”