Officiating the heated fixture between Arsenal and Tottenham is never an easy job, however, Martin Atkinson has come in for plenty of criticism following his attempt on Sunday.
The entertaining encounter at the Emirates finished 2-2, with strikes from Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang earning the Gunners a point after initially falling 2-0 behind.
Atkinson handed out eight yellow cards during the intense meeting, five to Tottenham players and three to Arsenal.
However, it was Atkinson’s treatment of Granit Xhaka that left many Spurs fans fuming.
The Swiss star committed seven fouls over the 90 minutes and only received a yellow card with minutes remaining.
And these Tottenham fans were quick to slam Atkinson following his performance in the derby, with one Arsenal fan also agreeing that the 48-year-old had a poor afternoon.
Twitter: @pokeefe1 @MPH1982 Finally books Xhaka on 82 mins for shirt pull, if he’s already booked he can’t do that as would be off. (@RJCoolDerbs)
Twitter: @pokeefe1 Yes, how come xhaka didn’t get a yellow for the pen? Thought he was off when he was given his first! (@S_Valentine8)
Twitter: @pokeefe1 I’m an Arsenal fan and I thought the game was just to quick for him , agree he should of booked xhaka muc… https://t.co/qeevlcArwK (@cave_ian)
Twitter: @pokeefe1 He was atrocious, for both sides. Seems to get the chance to officiate a lot of big derbies too. Not sure why. (@Keanogoals)
Twitter: @pokeefe1 Absolute disgrace, no words how bad he was. Had the biggest agenda against us today (@snowy_white89)
Read Arsenal verdict
With the pace of the game at the top level increasing every year, unfortunately, the standard of refereeing seems to decrease.
Arsenal may have got the rub of the green on Sunday in terms of caution decisions, however, the Gunners have themselves been on the wrong end of several poor calls in recent months.
The introduction of VAR this season was supposed to help the man in the middle, but it seems that all it has done is bring more confusion into the game.
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