Former striker criticises referee during Arsenal's win over Aston Villa

A former Premier League forward has taken aim at Jarred Gillett, labelling his refereeing as "absolutely f*****g honking" during Arsenal's 1-0 victory against Aston Villa, which prompted a rules expert to swiftly counter his remarks with an explanation.

The Gunners are enjoying a flawless start to the season as they aim to defend their league title, having claimed their first championship in 22 years last March. Bukayo Saka netted the only goal of the match in the 59th minute.

Following a 3-0 triumph over newly-promoted Coventry City last week, Mikel Arteta's team has been in commanding form, consistently appearing to have full control of their matches.

However, while referee cam footage provided insight into why Christos Tzolis was not shown a second yellow card for blocking John McGinn during a counter-attack late in the first half, that was not the only contentious moment for the officials on Monday night.

Ex-Premier League star criticises referee Jarred Gillett

A first-half penalty decision initially gave Arsenal the opportunity to score from the spot, but VAR intervened and determined that the foul occurred outside of Villa's box.

Despite the incident being rendered a non-event, former Liverpool player Stan Collymore expressed his frustration with Gillett over the time taken to award the penalty. He posted on X (see the full post below):

"Referee reacts to the away end penalty shout. Waited a full 3 seconds before pointing to the spot. Absolutely f***ng honking refereeing."

This moment was also noted by Gary Neville during Sky Sports' commentary, although the reason for the delay was unclear at the time.

It did not take long for Dale Johnson, a rules expert for the BBC, to respond to the harsh criticism with an explanation regarding the referee's delay.

Rules expert responds to criticism

In reply to Collymore's initial post, Johnson stated: "Clearly checking with the assistant where the challenge took place," to which the retired striker responded, maintaining his stance. He shared the tweet and replied (see the full exchange below):

"Hey Dale! IMO, if a referee sees a penalty he should blow immediately and be overruled for being wrong. Anytime a referee waits 3 full seconds to point to the spot for the comfort blanket of an assistant in his ear, it logically means the referee has absolved himself from the one thing he's there for.

"To make a clear, unambiguous, real-time decision based on his ability and his alone. It looks all levels of wrong for an infraction to happen, and a referee waits 3 full seconds to blow and may I suggest, it could be abused in countries where refereeing issues are, let's say, commonplace."

Johnson, aiming to clarify the situation, concluded: "It's standard practice when there needs to be a discussion about where the foul took place. If the referee is behind the play, the assistant who is directly in line will almost always make the decision on position."

Source: GiveMeSport