What, then, are the possible reasons for this?

Of course, it was once argued that officials favoured the bigger and, perhaps more significantly, richer clubs.

The theory put forward in Italy to explain the amount of big calls that seemed to go Juve's way was 'psychological conditioning', the argument that referees had been subconsciously trained to side with the 'Grand Old Lady of Italian football'.

Of course, the 'Calciopoli' scandal cast that claim in a whole other light, allowing the conspiracy theorists to run riot.

On a more general level, it was quite reasonably argued that the top teams would win more penalties because they dominated more games, enjoyed more possession, applied more attacking pressure and spent more time in opposition areas.