Ref Review: Stoke and Swansea robbed by referees

Stoke City and Swansea City suffered from incorrect refereeing decisions against Sunderland and Liverpool, 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 14

Micah Richards goal v Watford: It had no effect on the result, but replays showed that Micah Richards’ equaliser for Aston Villa on Saturday should have been ruled out for offside. Verdict: Incorrect decision

Bournemouth penalty appeal v Everton: With the scoreline 2-1 to Everton, Adam Smith went down under a challenge from Brendan Galloway in the penalty area, but nothing was given. Bournemouth got their just rewards in the end, but our panel felt they should have had a spot-kick here. Verdict: Incorrect decision

Manchester City penalty appeal v Southampton: Already 2-0 up, Manchester City should have been awarded a penalty when Steven Davis handled as Fernandinho headed a corner towards goal. here. Verdict: Incorrect decision

Southampton penalty appeal v Manchester City: They say these decisions even themselves out over the season – our table shows that may not be true, but at the Etihad on Saturday things evened themselves out on the day as Fernandinho got away with a handball from Shane Long’s shot. Verdict: Incorrect decision

Ryan Shawcross red card v Sunderland: He could have been booked before picking up his first yellow card of the day, but that was irrelevant by the time Mike Dean showed Shawcross a second yellow when he got the ball in a challenge with Duncan Watmore. It cost Stoke, who were drawing 0-0 at the time but lost 2-0. Verdict: Incorrect decision

Bastian Schweinsteiger goal v Leicester City: There were some suggestions that this could have been ruled out because of Schweinsteiger’s tussling with Shinji Okazaki, but none of our panel felt the Manchester United midfielder gave anything he did not get back. Verdict: Correct decision

West Ham goal v West Brom: Tony Pulis felt Gareth McAuley was harsh done by when conceding a free-kick from which West Ham opened their scoring, but four out of five on our panel saw no room for complaint. Verdict: Correct decision

Liverpool penalty appeal v Swansea City: There is an argument to say Neil Taylor’s body position was all wrong as he tried to block Jordon Ibe’s cross, but still, nobody on our panel felt the spot-kick was warranted as the ball struck the Swansea full-back on the arm. Verdict: Incorrect decision

Norwich City penalty appeal v Arsenal: Mathieu Flamini certainly took a risk when shoving Wes Hoolahan in the back just inside his penalty area at Carrow Road on Sunday, but a narrow three-to-two majority felt the referee was right to give no penalty, arguing it would have been at the top end of the ‘soft’ category. Verdict: Correct decision

For and Against

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