I believe you - but where does one find stats like that?
I've got the original stats off WhyScout (I didn't compile them - though all are available on WhyScout) but it's a subscription site for all videos and stats. Most can be sourced and cobbled together from Statsbomb and FootChart.
If you use FootCharts though (
http://www.footstats.co.uk/index.cfm?task=league_fouls) - you can see only Sheffield Utd get less fouls given to them than we do. We receive 9.08 fouls awarded per 90 (Sheffield Utd are 20th to our 19th, with an astonishing 8.12 and Aston Villa are apparently the most fouled team - 15.78) despite having the ball in the final third more than anyone in the entire division.
City's final third possession and passes are lower than ours, showing they are more efficient in that area but also spend a lot less time there than ourselves, which draws the natural conclusion that they will get fouled less. Only ourselves and City have completed more than 17,000 passes this season - no one else is within 3,000 of this total - and we have done more in the defensive third and the final third, City substantially more in the centre of the pitch. We also have more possession and more time on the ball than any side other than City (the only two sides with an average above 60%). All of this is available in WhoScored's Action Zones area for 20/21 Premier League - no side in the entire division has the ball in the final third as much as we do and only two have it in the middle third less than us (Leeds and Sheffield Utd). We also have the ball in our own third less than any other team (except City).
Correlation doesn't always infer the causality of the production of statistical numbers, but in football, in every top European league, final third possession and take ons (in which we lead the stats for the Premier League per Statsbomb) are the key correlators with fouls awarded. Except... not in the Premier League, not in the final third and not for us. Indeed, you look at the same model that is consistently proven to be correct across pretty much all leagues, and the outlier, the only exception, is Liverpool in 20/21.
Chelsea are the next least fouled team, but they have the ball in the final third a massive 5% less of the game than we do. Everton, Tottenham, Newcastle and West Bromwish Albion have all been given more fouls near the opposition's penalty area than we have, despite the fact that they all literally spend 10% less time with the ball there and have, on average, completed over 2,500 passes less in that area than we have.
The same stats assign an 'error' rating to the decisions given in the league, based upon review after the final whistle. Only two teams in the division have more than 1.33 'key' refereeing errors against them per 90 (meaning a decision that then lead to a key incident - goal, penalty, free kick, sending off etc). That's us, with 2.12 Key officiating errors against us per 90 (Poor Sheffield Utd cropping up again with a whopping 2.75 key errors per 90). It's also worth noting here that the likes of Tottenham and Aston Villa have 2.5 per 90 in their favour - Villa have a crazy 4.71 which just seems wild.
Mike Dean, Anthony Taylor and Jonathan Moss have the least Fouls Per Game in our favour across this season from all refs. They've reffed us 7 times. The 'most favourable' refs to us have been Stuart Atwell and Chris Kavanagh, but they've only been given our games a combined 3 times. Mike Dean also awards 1 Penalty per 90 against us this season.
As for direct VAR intervention, as of 07/02, we had a -6 score, which is 6 incidents leading to or erasing goals that have been deemed to be incorrect after the final whistle (this doesn't include the penalty given to Welbeck or the Salah Brighton goal - both deemed correct after the 90). This isn't favourable decisions or lack of decisions, this is purely VAR interventions deemed incorrect. Including Mane's winner in the Derby.
I don't even know where I'm going or what I'm pointing out now to be honest. It's all just interesting and borne out by easily accessible numbers that we do not have the same treatment applied to us as any other side in the division, or even across Europe for that matter. If anyone was interested, in the Champions League, we are fouled equitably (within 10% of) with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atleti, Bayern, Ajax - funnily enough sides who match our possession statistics. Who'd have thought?
