12 Premier League games in, and Declan Rice has not been given a single free kick.
It is one of the oddest stats of Arsenal’s season, made stranger by how often he is right in the middle of the physical exchanges that usually attract the referee’s whistle.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Rice has conceded 10 fouls and has been booked once, yet not one referee has awarded him a free kick.
That sits alongside another familiar pattern this year, where officials play advantage when an Arsenal player is fouled and then forget the original incident once the move ends. The most recent example came in the derby destruction of Tottenham, when Mohammed Kudus went studs into Piero Hincapié’s midriff. Arsenal kept the ball, Michael Oliver let the game run, and then simply moved on.
This is the same referee who sent Myles Lewis-Skelly off at the start of the year for what he called a dangerous trip.
Rice is not alone in being overlooked.
MartÃn Zubimendi has been penalised 16 times and has been awarded only four fouls in return. Between them, Rice and Zubimendi have played 2,015 league minutes and have had four free kicks altogether.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Compare that with Manchester City’s Rodri, who has played just 294 league minutes and already has five fouls in his favour. He has more than Arsenal’s two midfielders combined in barely an eighth of the time.
For a pair who spend so much of every match receiving the ball under pressure, being challenged from behind, and contesting duels in midfield, the numbers make little sense.
Yet, in a way, they tell their own story.
Related Topics