Referees are simply part of the play and they are always going to get in the way from time to time, but there’s something different about it when Mike Dean is involved.
Dean is a ref who always wants to be centre of attention so you can imagine that he lives for moments like this, and he even looks annoyed at the Arsenal player for hitting him with the ball:
Pictures courtesy of Astro Supersport 3
It’s a very promising counter attack from Arsenal as they have an overload on that side, and Dean has plenty of time to get out of the way of this.
You can see that Kieran Tierney is furious with him on the far side, and the consolation prize of an indirect free kick definitely favours Man United in this situation.
It’s also led to some predictable reaction on Twitter from the various sides, but there are a few who seem to think Dean has done more than certain United players in this game now: