WEEKEND REF REVIEW

Ref Review: Blues, Norwich & Saints suffer

 Chelsea, Norwich and Southampton were on the wrong end of bad refereeing decisions over the weekend, according to our Ref Review panel.

  

Refereeing decisions are regularly the source of debate among fans, pundits, players and managers so this season me and my pannel of expert will be passing judgement on every red card (or avoidance of one), every penalty and any other major incident leading to a goal.

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

Week 1

Leicester penalty v Sunderland: There was no debate whatsoever about this one, with all five of our panel agreeing it was absolutely the right decision to point to the spot after Lee Cattermole brought down Riyad Mahrez.
Disallowed Norwich goal v Crystal Palace: This was slightly more difficult to decide on. Free-kicks are regularly awarded for high feet, and there is no doubt that Cameron Jerome's foot was head high as he hooked the ball over the shoulder and into his net in the six-yard box. However, his boot was surely far enough away from Joel Ward's head for it not to be deemed dangerous play. Even more pertinently, none of us could ever remember a previous incident of an overhead kick goal being ruled out. After some debate, we were just about unanimous that the goal should have stood.
Norwich penalty appeal v Crystal Palace: This fell into the 'seen them given' category, but our panel were agreed that there was not enough contact made on Sebastien Bassong to warrant a penalty being awarded.
Thibaut Courtois red card v Swansea: We were in little doubt that Michael Oliver was right to show Swansea a penalty when Courtois brought down Bafetimbi Gomis inside the area, but there was no unanimous agreement on whether the decision to show the Chelsea goalkeeper was also correct.
It was argued that, had Courtois not made contact with Gomis, he most definitely would have had a clear goalscoring opportunity with possibly only Gary Cahill to beat, but a four to one majority felt the presence of the defender and the fact that Gomis would have had to score from a difficult angle meant the wrong colour of card was shown.
Mats Yoshida handball v Newcastle: Fabricio Coloccini felt he should have had a penalty when he flicked the ball up at Yoshida's hand, but our panel all agreed it was a case of ball to hand rather than hand to ball.
Aleksandar Mitrovic avoiding red card v Southampton: A scything challenge on Matt Targett earned the Newcastle new boy a booking within 20 seconds of him coming on as a substitute at St James' Park on Sunday, but our panel all agreed with the decision to show him only a yellow card.
However, there was also unanimous agreement - including from Steve McClaren - that Mitrovic would have been shown a second yellow - at least - had referee Craig Pawson spotted his flailing aim into Maya Yoshida.
Nathaniel Clyne handball v Stoke: Stoke appealed for a penalty when Ibrahim Afellay's effort was blocked by the hands by Clyne, but our panel all felt there was little the new Liverpool right-back could do to get out of the way of the ball.
Dejan Lovren v Stoke: The Croatian was booked for an elbow on Mame Diouf in the second half of Liverpool's win at Stoke on Sunday, and although such offences are often punished by a red card, our panel again unanimously agreed that the right decision had been made on this occasion.

For and Against

Crystal Palace - 1 for
Newcastle - 1 for
Swansea - 1 for
Chelsea - 1 against
Norwich - 1 against
Southampton - 1 against