Gary Neville has accused Mikel Arteta of fuelling hostility from Arsenal fans towards referees after Michael Oliver recently received death threats.
Oliver was targeted by disgruntled fans after sending off Myles Lewis-Skelly in the Gunners’ 1-0 victory over Wolves last weekend.
Police have been investigating threats made towards the official, while the PGMOL released a statement saying: “We are appalled by the threats and abuse directed at Michael Oliver following the Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal fixture.
“No official should be subject to any form of abuse, let alone the abhorrent attacks aimed at Michael and his family over the past 24 hours.
Gary Neville has accused Mikel Arteta of fuelling hostility from Arsenal fans towards referees after Michael Oliver recently received death threats
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“The police are aware, and a number of investigations have commenced.
“We are supporting Michael, and all those affected, and are determined to tackle this unacceptable behaviour.
“Sadly, this is not the first time a match official has been forced to deal with threats in recent times. We will continue to support all investigations.”
And Neville, speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, has now accused Arteta of fuelling Arsenal fans’ hostility towards referees.
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He said: “They [Arsenal fans] use language like corruption, which means they think he’s getting paid and bought off – which is obviously not the case.
“We [at Manchester United] lived in a club which created a siege mentality about the referees.
“Arsenal are doing a bit of that as well – there’s no doubt that what Arsenal do is inflame the situation after the game rather than calm it down, they’ve done that for 12 months – but we can’t say that’s wrong having played in the dressing room that we did.
“The difference is now with social media, when we were playing back in the day and doing similar things with referees, we weren’t inflaming what would be a cause of corruption on social media.
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“Now you have a sway of Arsenal’s anger, which comes from the players and from Mikel Arteta, and prominent fans.
“You now have a social media wave now which goes towards [allegations of] corruption and cheating.
“In our day, we couldn’t have that much influence – everyone was at home without a phone, and didn’t have Twitter.”
While Oliver has gone through a tough time since dismissing Lewis-Skelly, he’s set to work on Ipswich’s clash with Southampton on Saturday.
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Gary Neville has criticised Mikel Arteta amid Arsenal fans’ criticism of Premier League referees
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Neville continued his defence of Oliver, insisting he’s ‘professional’ and doesn’t deserve the hate he’s received on social media.
“I hate the idea of a referee being taken off a game,” he continued.
“He [Michael Oliver] is the best referee in the country, and the idea that he would go into that game on Sunday and be swayed towards Manchester City – he’s not going to do that, he’s a professional.”
Michael Oliver received death threats after sending off Myles Lewis-Skelly in Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Wolves last weekend
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Arsenal will go into their clash with Manchester City on Sunday on a high.
They beat Girona 2-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday night following goals from Jorginho and teenage talent Ethan Nwaneri.
Arsenal and City drew 2-2 at the Etihad Stadium earlier in the season.