The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust have criticised the club for their failure to freeze ticket prices for the upcoming season. The Gunners announced a series of ticketing changes on Tuesday, which will result in an average increase of 3.9 per cent for general admission season tickets.

This marks the fifth year in a row that Arsenal have chosen to hike prices, coinciding with a period when the Football Supporters’ Association has been advocating for a ticket price freeze across all Premier League clubs.

The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust expressed their disappointment at the club’s refusal to “seriously engage” with the concept of freezing ticket prices for next season.

In a statement, the trust said: “We are disappointed that the FSA’s ‘Protect the Fans, Protect the Game’ proposals calling for a ticket price freeze across all Premier League clubs has not been taken up.

“Neither the Premier League nor Arsenal have seriously engaged with the idea that a freeze at all clubs would help stop the ‘arms race’.

“We firmly believe that with the football sector benefitting from ever-increasing broadcast and commercial revenues it is time to stop squeezing match-going supporters so hard.

“Arsenal recently reported to Deloitte a big increase in last season’s total revenue to £691m (up by 10 per cent) and ticketing income of £154m (up by 19 per cent).

“It is frustrating for fans to see football clubs and leagues do so little to combat increasing costs in the game, with ticket prices continuing to rise.

“The AST has led efforts through the FSA and FSE for regulation to control agents’ fees. Yet the football authorities and clubs seem incapable of collectively addressing this.

“We now expect both Arsenal and the Premier League to give more explanation as to why they have chosen to ignore the compelling case for a price freeze put forward by the ‘Protect the Fans, Protect the Game’ campaign, which was overwhelmingly backed by supporters including all representative members of the Arsenal Advisory Board (AAB).”