Ref Review: The incorrect decisions from week 22

Everton and Arsenal suffered from incorrect decisions against Chelsea and Stoke City, according to our Ref Review panel.

Refereeing decisions are regularly the source of debate among fans, pundits, players and managers so this season a five-strong TEAMtalk panel will be passing judgement on every red card (or avoidance of one), every penalty and any other major incident every weekend.

We’ll also keep a tally of the major decisions to go for and against each team in an attempt to settle the never-ending debate about whether certain clubs are favoured more than others by Premier League referees.

Week 22

Tottenham penalty v Sunderland: A bad debut for Jan Kirchhoff was completed when he tripped Danny Rose, with even Sam Allardyce admitting it was a penalty. Verdict: Correct decision

Declan Rudd avoiding red card v Bournemouth: Rudd took down Benik Afobe as he ran through on goal, but the Bournemouth striker was running well away from goal with Sebastian Bassong running back to cover, making the yellow card the correct decision according to our panel. Verdict: Correct decision

Bournemouth penalty v Norwich City: It was soft, but referee Robert Madley had little alternative but to point to the spot when Vadis Odjidja stupidly pulled back Marc Pugh in the box. Verdict: Correct decision

John Terry goal v Everton: Roberto Martinez had no room to complain about the amount of time added on after Everton’s earlier stoppage-time goal, but the Toffees boss was certainly right to feel aggrieved that the assistant referee did not spot Terry was in an offside position when flicking home Chelsea’s late equaliser. Verdict: Incorrect decision

West Brom penalty appeal v Southampton: Tony Pulis argued after the game that his side should have had a penalty when Crag Gardner was kicked over by James Ward-Prowse, but replays showed the foul occurred just outside of the box. Verdict: Correct decision (not to give a penalty)

Southampton penalty v West Brom: This was another somewhat soft penalty, but Matt Targett was always going to draw a foul from Craig Dawson after getting goalside of the Albion defender. Referee Martin Atkinson had no choice. Verdict: Correct decision

Leicester City penalty v Aston Villa: All three major decisions in Saturday evening’s game at Villa Park split the panel. The first, which saw Aly Cissokho penalised for handball, went three to two in favour of the referee on the basis that Riyad Mahrez’s shot may well have otherwise hit the back of the net. Verdict: Correct decision

Aston Villa penalty appeal v Leicester City: The panel voted in favour of the referee’s decision with this one too. Robert Huth undoubtedly put an arm across Libor Kozak, but the Aston Villa forward was looking for the spot-kick in the eyes of three out of the five on our panel. Verdict: Correct decision

Rudy Gestede v Leicester City: The referee got out backing here too, with only one member of the panel arguing play should have been called back when Gestede’s poor touch saw the ball hit his hand before he scored Villa’s equaliser. Verdict: Correct decision

Marouane Fellaini avoiding red card v Liverpool: Lucas was adamant that he had been stamped on by Fellaini in Sunday’s game at Anfield, but the Manchester United midfielder did not appear to make any contact. That does not excuse his actions, of course, but only one member of the panel felt it was worthy of a red card. Verdict: Correct decision

Theo Walcott penalty appeal v Stoke City: After initially being pulled back by Philipp Wollscheid on the edge of the box, Walcott then had the back of his leg clipped by the Stoke defender inside the area. It was accidental, but our panel unaminously agreed a penalty should have been awarded. Verdict: Incorrect decision

For and Against

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