Mike Dean was right at the heart of the action during Sheffield United's 1-0 victory over Arsenal - just the way he likes it. Unai Emery was left seething after the referee declined to award Sokratis a penalty after a foul by John Egan in the first half, with VAR failing to intervene. Gunners youngster Bukayo Saka was later booked for diving to try and win a spot-kick, before assistant coach Freddie Ljungberg was also shown a yellow card. Emery's men didn't help themselves, Nicolas Pepe missing a sitter as they continued their poor away run and missed the chance to go third in the table. They haven't won on the road since the opening day of the season when they beat Newcastle 1-0.

Even so, Dean will not be particularly high on any Arsenal fan's Christmas card list. 

Sokratis' penalty claim can be seen below: 

Believe it or not, that was quite far down the list of reasons why the 'celebrity ref' was such a big talking point on Monday night. 

First, his entrance onto the pitch went viral. 

Iconic. Then, in the dying seconds of the game, as Chris Wilder's side were awarded a goal-kick that effectively confirmed the Blades had wrapped up the three points, he whipped out his famous 'point':

Unsurprisingly, he got quite the cheer from the home fans. Ever get the feeling he likes the spotlight? 

As much as Emery will have been frustrated with the officiating, however, he has serious problems of his own with which to be concerned. 

Jamie Carragher made the point on Monday Night Football that if anything, Arsenal look even worse than they did under Arsene Wenger.

Plenty of supporters are also coming to that conclusion. 

That certainly doesn't bode well for the Spaniard, who was tasked with reviving the club's fortunes when he arrived at the beginning of last season.

Judging by their record away from the Emirates, that doesn't look to be happening at all.