Arsenal have so far played 60 games this season.
And most of our players have had 5 or 10 international games on top of that.
On the subject of the disallowed goal, it was an absolute clear foul (or two) on Raya. While goalies have been less protected the last few seasons you'll not find many instances of people holding their arms not going punished. You can make contact, you can get in the way, but you cant hold onto their arms or pull them down while they're jumping.
Yes, there's a lot of wrestling at corners, it's all over the league, and no, I don't like it. Referees have tended to let it go as "six of one half a dozen of the other". There's an incredible level of outrage when Arsenal do it that isn't present when other clubs do the same though. In fact as well as the "fouls" by Arsenal players that weren't called on that particular corner, Kai Havertz was also wrestled to the ground, which was pretty much the first action that could have been called a foul, but people seem to be fairly quiet about that one. I don't think anybody but Arsenal fans thought Haaland's goal against us should have been a free kick to us either - after all, Gabriel and Haaland had been going hammer and tongs at each other all game. Haaland did heave Gabriel back by his short though, and was still holding it when he shot - actions which would have definitely have been a penalty if they'd been reversed.
But there's more history to it than just this match or just this season. Several seasons ago, with Ramsdale in goal there were a couple of instances where Ramsdale was held and the ref allowed the opposition goal. Obviously we complained, but you know - same old Arsenal, always moaning. Man up, Ramsdale needs to be stronger in those situations. Some time later there was also the infamous Newcastle goal against us that was ball out of play, player offside, foul on Gabriel and handball - none of which were given. Again, we were told Gabriel needed to be stronger there, despite clear evidence he was shoved in the back with two hands. The arms were apparently in a natural position for pushing him though, so the handball wasn't given...
As a results of some of these decisions we went to the PGMOL and asked what their rulings were, help us understand them. Since then we've played to what they told us, like it or not. At one point we
did interfere directly with keepers, and Ben White got a reputation for it. Certainly one goal for us was chalked off for him having a hand on the goalkeeper. That summer they changed the rules because Arsenal, as ever, were destroying the beautiful game.
But as they toughened up the rules re keepers, we changed our play as well. We don't actually crowd the keeper straight off at the corner - we run in like an American football blitz move. We will enter positions that block defenders and the goalkeeper, but we're not going in to foul the keepers. For teams that have spent decades defending zonally, this is a nightmare - they've had to change to man marking, and wrestling. We put the ball just under the crossbar far post, and try and - legally - get players on it. They've a right to challenge for it and a right to be where they are on the pitch. If that blocks keepers then tough.
We are playing the system here, having asked directly how the refs are judging these situations, but in no way de we invent holding on to players or blocking goalkeepers or wrestling. And having seen how effective it can be, everyone else is doing variations of it - if they've got a few 6'2" players to put in the box. We've had literally decades of being told we needed to toughen up, now we've done that everybody hates it.
