I've been thinking about this since yesterday and I think Arsenal have to take control of this situation by amending their image. This is still a totally normalised way of playing against Arsenal, which is why it is treated with such leniency imo. https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/1274376686864343042

And ultimately, we've lost and we're complaining about repeat fouling and another player needlessly injured. So it worked, which means teams will keep doing it and it will continually to be normalised in the eyes of officials.

One of the things I think Pochettino did really well at Spurs was to take responsibility for their image- they were seen as the ultimate soft touch and he changed that by upping the bastardry. Whatever their current weaknesses, nobody approaches games v Spurs by kicking them.

I also think the more you take the law into your own hands, the more you get away with because, again, it is seen as normal. This is where Arsenal have to get to imo, to stop expecting officials to 'help' them and to start giving some back.

I'm not saying Arsenal should go out to kick teams, but, put it this way, if someone like Maupay or Bissouma needs a bit of a slap, give him a slap. Dealing with the odd red card is, imo, acceptable collateral damage for correcting our image as a soft touch.

Basically, the quickest way to stop being perceived as a soft touch is to stop being a soft touch.