Revealed: Arsenal crowds lower than reported as Liverpool and Man Utd games in spotlight

Arsenal are claimed to have overstated their crowd numbers by up to 5,000 fans per game last season

ARSENAL mis-reported crowd numbers at the Emirates Stadium by up to 5,000 fans per game last season, according to reports.

 

The Daily Mail claim data released by the Metropolitan Police under Freedom of Information laws show their numbers have been misreported by 21,953 over the whole of last season.

While the Gunners boast sell-out figures for almost all of their home games, questions were raised after TV pictures appeared to show empty seats on a regular basis.

  

Crowd figures for last season's game with Liverpool were mis-reported by more than 3,000

It has since emerged figures are based on tickets sold and not by the number of people who are actually at the game.

Therefore, a season ticket holder is counted even if they don't actually attend.

In games against Sunderland and Swansea last term the actual attendance was 5,000 fewer than what the club reported.

 

They are also said to have overstated their attendances by over 3,000 for Liverpool's visit to the Emirates, while there is a small discrepancy of 74 for the game against Manchester United.

"We are clear in all our communication that the attendance figures we announce reflect the number of tickets sold. This is in line with most sports stadia," an Arsenal spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

"As a club, we want a full stadium and work hard to ensure this happens through our Ticket Transfer and Ticket Exchange services.