Ex-referee Dermot Gallagher analyses the key incidents from the weekend’s Premier League fixtures, including the big decisions in an action-packed win for Newcastle over West Ham, Burnley’s draw at Chelsea, Everton’s defeat at Bournemouth and Rangers’ win over Hibernian
Newcastle 4-3 West Ham
Incident: A penalty awarded after just two minutes at St James’ Park as Vladimir Coufal brought down Anthony Gordon. One – was it a foul? And two – why was Gordon not offside? Verdict: Correct decision.
Dermot says: “I think it’s a foul. The ref spots the foul and then VAR has a look. Gordon is in an offside position but it all depends on Konstantinos Mavropanos playing the ball with his right foot deliberately and therefore under this guidance you can’t give offside and Gordon can play.
Incident: Controversy surrounding West Ham’s second goal. Mohammed Kudus scored while Fabian Schar was down holding his face. Should Rob Jones have allowed the free-kick to be taken quickly? Verdict: Play should have been stopped.
Dermot says: “I think the best solution here was the minute they take the free-kick to blow your whistle and say, Schar has to be assessed. Kill it off quickly.”
Incident: Newcastle got a second penalty, Kalvin Phillips bringing down Gordon. Jones gave it after going to the monitor. Was Phillips unfortunate?
Verdict: Right decision.
Dermot says: “He’s unfortunate but he does kick him and it’s a foul. Gordon is clever and gets in front of him. The referee has to give a penalty.”
Incident: Dan Burn knocked over Kudus as he tried to break into the Newcastle box and David Moyes wanted a red card. But nothing was given.
Verdict: Right decision.
Dermot says: “When you’re side-to-side, shoulder-to-shoulder fair enough. If a player gets in front you can’t do that [shove] but side-by-side that’s fine.”
Incident: Bournemouth’s Tyler Adams brought down Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the box but no penalty was given.
Verdict: The referee saw the incident incorrectly – VAR should have stepped in
Dermot says: “If the referee gives a penalty there can’t be too many complaints. All I think is the referee thinks Calvert-Lewin trips himself but he does get kicked first. He would feed that back to the VAR. Is there enough contact? The thresholds… the vagary of VAR.”
Stephen Warnock says: “This is clearly a foul and they’ve obviously got it wrong. That’s a poor decision for me.”
Sue Smith says: “VAR need to say you need to have another look at that. Calvert-Lewin isn’t going to go down if he’s not fouled because he has a clear shot at goal.”
Chelsea 2 – 2 Burnley
Incident: Burnley went down to 10 when Lorenz Assignon brought down Mykhailo Mudryk. Darren England awarded a penalty and gave Assignon a second yellow.
Verdict: Incorrect decision. No penalty, no yellow card.
Dermot says: “I just cannot see how it’s a penalty. I talk about referees and how tough it is but I don’t know what’s made him think that’s a penalty. It’s not a penalty. 100 per cent. He then gives him a yellow card – I’m not sure what that’s for. It can’t be for denying a goalscoring opportunity because Mudryk is not in possession of the ball. You give a penalty that is wrong. A yellow card that’s wrong, which becomes a red card, so the player is sent off and he’s going to serve a one-match ban because there’s no appeal. It starts to ramp up because the manager is frustrated and upset by this and he gets a red card.”
Warnock says: “That’s one of the worst decisions of the season. It’s so easy. Where’s the strength of the VAR to step up and say ‘you got that wrong’.”
