Martin Atkinson is an unusual referee. While most of the 21 who worked in the Premier League last season produced statistics that were largely in coordination with each other, there’s a huge discrepancy from the 47-year-old’s returns for 2017/18. A ranking of first for red cars per match last season is completely contradicted by coming in at a mere 17th for penalties per game.
That imbalance highlights Atkinson’s most infamous moment from last season – when he failed to award Manchester City a late penalty in the Manchester derby, despite Ashley Young’s challenge on Sergio Aguero being far from within the confines of footballing law.
There’s only one way to really interpret that incident and Atkinson’s subsequent statistics; he often chokes and decides non-intervention is the best policy when controversial incidents take place in the box.
It’s something Chelsea and Arsenal’s defenders should really bear in mind this weekend after Atkinson was appointed to oversee their Premier League clash on Saturday, particularly the centre-halves.
Alvaro Morata has struggled with the physicality of the English game since arriving from Real Madrid and it appears Arsenal’s centre-backs can get away with being especially robust against the Spain international inside the box under Atkinson’s watch. The same applies for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, although speed has always been a bigger factor in his game than strength anyway.
But perhaps that reluctance to make key decisions in the penalty area will be felt most at corners. Penalties for grappling inside the box was a recurring theme in the Premier League last term and at the World Cup in Russia, but Atkinson would appear to be a lot more lenient in that regard and that should benefit the Blues particularly.
Arsenal scored twice the amount of goals from corners than the west Londoners last term – ten compared to five – but the kind of dirty tricks that Atkinson would seem to allow should see Chelsea dramatically reduce their opponents’ potency at such opportunities on Saturday.
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Then again, Atkinson’s returns for yellow and red cards should alarm both teams because neither club had particularly commendable disciplinary records last season. Although Chelsea picked up the least yellow cards of any Premier League side, and perhaps more significantly 15 less than Arsenal who ranked 10th for bookings, Leicester were the only club to suffer more red cards than the Blues’ four.
Neither side, nor the neutrals, really have anything to gain from Atkinson’s card-happy nature.
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