Do biased Premier League referees exist?
Ever since Manchester United legend Howard Webb hung up his whistle, there hasn’t been an official with a perceived alliance towards a particular big side.
Instead we’ve had to put up with theories about those who ‘have it in’ in for certain clubs. Officials with an apparent axe to grind.
However, according to a new statistical infographic by Bwin, it turns out both could well exist.
Pulling together data on all refereeing performances involving the biggest teams this season, the researchers found a number of interesting facts, such as how under Arsenal fan hate figure Mike Dean the club only has a lowly win rate of 33.3 per cent, and how Kevin Friend really does live up to his name with Manchester United, who have won 90 per cent of their games with him in charge.
Not only that, trawling through a month's worth of Tweets regarding top flight refs, it appears Kevin Friend is also everybody else’s friend too, being left alone more than any other man in black when it comes to social media vitriol.
Though perhaps not for much longer outside the red half of Manchester.
