The weekend’s biggest and most controversial incident was at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon. I was fortunate enough to be at the game and thought the referee had a good game until just after Manchester United equalized. Gabby Agbonlahor was on a run when he slightly over-ran the ball. Ashley Young went to challenge for the ball. It was a 50-50 and the ball was there to be won but Agbonlahor was sent off for what looked like a very poor challenge when I saw it live. It looked late and used excessive force. I could see why Lee Mason sent him off from my view. However, it wasn’t until I saw a replay later on in the evening that it looked a harsh decision. Agbonlahor’s studs were down but I think the sheer force of the tackle was the deciding factor for Mason. Its very easy to say it was a poor decision in slow motion. I don’t think it was a red card having seen it again, but find it difficult to say it was a terrible decision, purely on the fact that he went in with so much force. Not many fans around me were shocked when the red card was brandished but I expect it to be rescinded by the FA when they slow it down. Mason did pull out the card quick which wasn’t ideal. Maybe he could have consulted his fourth official, but I can totally understand why he sent him off based on the first and only view he got of the incident.

QPR were given a penalty by Craig Pawson after Leroy Fer was fouled twice by James Morrison. He grabbed the former Norwich City man around the waist before pulling him back moments later. Pawson was spot on and Charlie Austin smashed the ball home for the first of his three goals.

There were appeals for a second QPR spot kick when Joey Barton felt he was chopped down in the box, again by Morrison and I thought it was a stone wall penalty. It was late and clumsy and although Pawson’s view was not ideal, it was good enough to see the infringement.

The worst offside decision I have seen for a long time was at the Etihad in the early kick off. Manchester City were 2-0 up when Crystal Palace’s James MacArthur headed the ball home to make it 2-1, only for the linesman to put his flag up, much to Neil Warnock’s disappointment. City left-back, Alexandr Kolarov was playing the Scottish midfielder on by a considerable margin, but the linesman was in a very poor position, which led to him believing that there was an offside. I haven’t seen a worse offside decision in recent memory and despite the 2-0 scoreline, a goal for Palace would have given them confidence to push on.

Moving to St Mary’s now, where Southampton were back on form with a 3-0 victory over Everton. The first goal came via controversial circumstances. A high ball left Shane Long challenging with Phil Jagielka. The latter had eyes for the ball but kicked Long to the ground – a certain penalty. Jon Moss didn’t award the penalty, but instead of pointing for a goal kick, he pointed to the corner flag. Another wrong decision. Southampton scored from the corner, so you could say it was justice, but it was still the wrong decision to give a corner.

Diving has been and continues to be a problem in the modern game and it was again brought to the media’s attention this weekend after there were six diving incidents, all of which led to differing outcomes.

Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Hull City was where the most debated incident occurred. Gary Cahill was already on a yellow card after a foul on Sone Aluko, which could easily have been a red. Cahill was fortunate that contact was made with his trailing leg, although it could be argued that it was still a dangerous tackle. The big debate came in the second half when Cahill dived in the penalty area when trying to beat two Hull players. It was a definite dive, there was no doubt about it. Chris Foy had already correctly booked Willian for the same offence after he looked for contact before falling to the ground and Diego Costa for a similar offence. So, Foy already made two correct decisions for players who were not on a yellow card, but he seemed to bottle it almost, for a player already on a yellow card. Where is the consistency? Steve Bruce was right to be angered by the decision, which could have changed the course of the game.

Phil Dowd awarded a penalty to Sunderland in their 1-1 draw with West Ham United. James Tomkins was penalised for a foul on Adam Johnson. There was minimal contact, if any and Johnson conned the referee by diving. He should have received a yellow card but instead, they scored from the resulting spot kick and took the lead. I personally think Dowd’s positioning was poor to make a decision from where he was. He was too far away and wasn’t in the best position to see a penalty or a dive, but it was quite clear on first viewing that it was an extravagant fall to the ground.

Sebastien Pogocnoli’s dive was even worse. He took a heavy touch, went past a Villa defender and just took the most outrageous dive I have seen in a long time. Mike Dean correctly produced the yellow card. Pocognoli even tapped Dean on the back, as if to say, “well done, you got me” which just shows how pathetic that dive was.

On the whole, diving needs to be clamped down on. The FA need to introduce bans for players who dive. It would soon stop, even if it is a one game ban that players would receive. The referees don’t help the current situation though. There are too many inconsistencies which mean that the players can try and win a penalty or a free kick near the box, knowing that they may get away with it.

Tom Huddlestone was already on a yellow card when he made an awful challenge on Felipe Luis. He stamped on his knee and knew hat he had done straight away. Chris Foy sent him off for a straight red card and rightly so. It could have been a serious injury.

The other red card from the weekend was for Kieran Richardson at The Hawthorns. He went into a challenge with Stephane Sessegnon with excessive force and therefore, had to be shown the red card.

Burnley came out on top winning 1-0 at home to Southampton, but had to survive a penalty for the away side after George Boyd fouled Ryan Bertrand inside the box. It was a clumsy foul and he’ll have to thank Tom Heaton for ensuring the scoreline remained 0-0, before Ashley Barnes scored a late winner to take The Clarets out of the bottom three.

Southampton against Manchester City was the showpiece game of the weekend, following the home side’s superb start to the season. Mike Jones was the man in charge at St Mary’s and had a strange first 45 minutes. The most bizarre decision was to punish Sergio Aguero for a dive, when it was clear that Jose Fonte made strong enough contact inside the area. Fonte even tried to convince the referee that it was a free-kick, outside the box, which added to the confusing decision Jones decided to make. It should have been a penalty.

In the second half, Elaquim Mangala didn’t show his worth of most expensive Premier League defender, as he was sent off for two bookable offences. Both were clumsy, especially the second on Shane Long. Mangala knew he was on a yellow and despite Long being in a good position to score, there were defenders nearby who could have got across to support. A poor decision from the Frenchman to make the challenge, meaning he was rightly sent off.

The use of the goal decision system was again shown to be a great tool for the officials at Old Trafford. Chris Smalling smashed the ball towards goal after a goal-mouth scramble and after Anthony Taylor checked his watch, the goal was given. The linesman’s view was far from ideal and he wouldn’t have been able to give a goal, with four Hull City players blocking the ball.

Diego Costa has been known to lose his temper from his time at Atletico Madrid and he was very close to doing so again on Saturday evening in the Blues’ 0-0 draw at the Stadium Of Light. Firstly, Costa reacted to a John O’Shea tackle and should have been booked by Kevin Friend. The second incident involved Wes Brown. Costa tried to bring the ball down, but in doing so, caught Brown with his right arm. It was an accident in my opinion, but considering the amount of pressure Friend was under from the crowd and Sunderland players, a booking was the best thing to do to calm the situation down.

Newcastle United midfielder Moussa Sissoko was booked twice in the space of two minutes to see red at Upton Park. The first yellow was really unnecessary. Kicking the ball away is a mandatory yellow, so that was incredibly poor. Sissoko didn’t calm down after that incident and cynically fouled Mark Noble. Mike Dean had no choice but to send Sissoko off.

Burnley won a penalty in the last 10 minutes at Turf Moor. The leagues newest referee, Graham Scott made the correct decision to award the Clarets’ a penalty after Lukas Jutkiewicz was wrestled to the ground by Jores Okore. I thought Okore should have seen red as the ball was about to be stuck towards goal.

Swansea’s Jonjo Shelvey was penalised after clumsily bringing down Marouane Chamakh, minutes after taking the lead. It was an easy decision for Martin Atkinson to make and he had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Away from decisions, Mark Clattenburg was again left out of the Premier League and is only a fourth official in Tuesday’s game at the King Power between Leicester City and Liverpool. He made a mistake in going to a concert after a game and leaving his colleagues, but he shouldn’t be punished for it week after week. He is the league’s best referee and should be in charge of the big games, regardless of his taste of music.

West Ham United continued their impressive form at the weekend. Diafra Sakho has been a key factor in the Hammers success and he scored the second goal in their 2-1 win over the reigning champions Manchester City. The use of goal line technology was crucial in the awarding of the goal. Joe Hart saved the shot behind the line, which was highlighted by the goal-line detection system. It has been a superb addition to the league in the past year, a massive success that is taking pressure off the officials and ensuring the correct decisions are being made.

Chelsea were denied a first half penalty first half in the league leaders’ 1-1 draw at Old Trafford for what were two clear fouls. One from Chris Smalling on Branislav Ivanovic and the other from Marcos Rojo on John Terry. Both United players had their Chelsea counterparts in a headlock. How Phil Dowd missed both, I don’t know. The inconsistencies with fouls from set pieces is a real problem. Only last week, Michael Oliver penalized Ryan Shawcross for a foul on Wilfried Bony. There needs to be a clear statement and consistency from the officials. Either let it all go, or keep penalizing it until it stops. The latter is what I would hope for.

Ivanovic was shown two yellow cards by Dowd. Both cautions were shown after fouls on Angel Di Maria deep in the Chelsea half. The first of which was harsh in my view. His arm comes across the Argentine, who went down easily. Having said that, I wasn’t surprised to see Dowd produce the card as he is one of the strictest referees.

The second yellow was less harsh. The Serbian international tripped Di Maria after the ball had gone and as he was already on a yellow, so he had to go. He was unfortunate with the first, but not so with the second. It cost the Blues as the resulting free kick brought a late equalizer.

There was an incident packed game at The Hawthorns between West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace. Palace opened the scoring through Brede Hangeland. West Brom claimed that Foster was impeded, but to me, it was a perfectly good goal, unlike West Brom’s first goal, which was ridiculous and should not have stood. Palace’s keeper, Speroni, was elbowed to the ground after Craig Dawson attacked the ball. It was an obvious foul that should have been picked out by Mark Clattenburg.

Between those incidents, Palace had one penalty appeal turned down and another one given. The turned down appeal was a poor decision from the referee. Wilfried Zaha was chopped down by Dawson – a clear penalty. Clattenburg’s assistant gave Palace a spot kick moments later when Sebastien Pocognoli brought down Yannick Bolasie. This, again was a clear foul. Finally in this controversy filled game, Mile Jedinak fouled Victor Anichebe in the area for the game’s third penalty – Clattenburg got this one right.

Neil Warnock was unhappy with the referee and made his feelings known after the game. I understand his passion and frustration, but his continuous moaning is starting to become a little irritating.

The most entertaining game of the weekend came at the King Power Stadium, where Leicester came back from 3-1 down to win 5-3 at the expense of Manchester United. There is no escaping that United’s defense were all over the place. It was naive at the best of times, but the decision to award Leicester a penalty at 3-1 was extremely poor officiating. Being a United fan, its easy to dispute this decision, but from an official’s perspective it was a shocking decision. Firstly, Rafael is shoved over by Jamie Vardy. Mark Clattenburg waved play on, only to give the Foxes a penalty for a lesser offence. Vardy’s arm was raised in the first challenge, whereas Rafael used his shoulders in the second in order to defend. It wasn’t the reason for United’s downfall, but certainly changed the game and gave the home side the impetus to keep attacking.

Clattenburg correctly awarded Leicester’s second penalty after Tyler Blackett tripped up Vardy in the box. The red card that followed cannot be argued.  The biggest game of the weekend came at The Etihad. Mike Dean was the man in charge and overall he was pretty picky with his yellow cards. This was highlighted by Pablo Zabaleta’s first booking which wasn’t even a foul in my view. Hazard just ran into him. The second yellow was justified though. A late, clumsy challenge, which was dealt with consistently from Dean, which is a positive. It would have been nice to see the game flow a bit more however.

West Ham goalkeeper, Adrian was involved in two incidents during the Hammers’ 3-1 victory over Liverpool. The first incident came after a challenge with Mario Balotelli. The pair exchanged words as well as handbags and both were correctly cautioned by Craig Pawson. In the second half, a ball was played through to Fabio Borini and Adrian charged out of his goal to claim the ball. He gathered the ball but raised his leg in an unnatural position, with studs showing and made contact with Borini’s leg. I can’t believe that he stayed on the pitch. It was a nasty foul that was certainly worth a second yellow at such an important time in the game, with the home side 2-1 up.

Stoke’s first goal at QPR surprised me somewhat. Peter Crouch had his arms pushing down on Rio Ferdinand. Nobody appealed for a foul which was strange as it was a definite infringement. Martin Atkinson should have spotted it. Poor decision.

Wilfried Bony’s appearance against Southampton was over before the break after two reckless fouls, both on Maya Yoshida. The first was a charge on the Japanese international, where Bony was shouting into the challenge. Bizarre to the the least. Jon Moss then dismissed Bony for a hack from behind. No question that the correct call was made. Consistent officiating.

Moving to Goodison Park where there were two more penalties, this time awarded by Michael Oliver. The first went in favour of Palace when Tim Howard bundled into James MacArthur. Correct decision and a good one too, especially with the amount of bodies Oliver had to look through. Oliver was again put on the spot in a similar incident, but this time Palace defender Scott Dann brought down James McCarthy. Again, a good decision by the leagues youngest official, who has the ability to be a Champions League and World Cup referee.

The start of the new Barclays Premier League season brought goals, shocks as well red cards, meaning that the officials were given no time to settle in and get used to their new vanishing spray.

There were 3 red cards over the weekend, all of which were totally justified. However, Kyle Naughton’s dismissal in the game between West Ham and Spurs at Upton Park was the most contentious call. Referee Chris Foy spotted what looked like a fair block on first look, but closer replays showed that the ball struck Naughton’s arm, which was raised and in front of goal, therefore denying a goal scoring opportunity, giving Foy no option but to send the left back off.

Jason Puncheon also saw red in Crystal Palace‘s agonizing last minute defeat to Arsenal. Puncheon was already on a yellow when he made a late, reckless attempt for the ball on Nacho Monreal. It was a poor challenge and despite his teammates best efforts to steal a point, it wasn’t enough to deny Arsenal winning the game. Puncheon has to take a considerable part of the blame for not understanding the game situation after being booked earlier on by referee Jon Moss.

The third red card was again at Upton Park but this time it was a Hammers player who was sent for an early bath. West Ham’s James Collins was booked for a late challenge in the first half, not long before deliberately blocking a Spurs player off, again giving referee Chris Foy limited options. It’s pleasing to see the referees getting big red card decisions right this early on in the season. Lets hope it continues.

Although there were some good decisions, there were also some poor calls. The worst of which was from referee Neil Swarbrick who gave an incredibly soft penalty to WBA‘s Victor Anichebe during the Baggies’ 2-2 draw with Sunderland. There was a small coming together between Anichebe and Valentin Roberge but I still can’t quite understand why a penalty was awarded. Everybody, including WBA boss Alan Irvine, was bemused.

Another soft penalty came at Loftus Road between QPR and Hull when James Chester was penalized for handball by ref Craig Pawson, but there was clearly no intent from the defender, whose hands were by his side. Pawson, who is relatively newcomer to the Premier League, was in a great position but called it wrongly. Luckily, QPR missed the resulting spot kick.

Finally, West Brom were denied a goal after help from the assistant referee after he spotted a foul on Vito Mannone. It was soft, but he was knocked off balance when attempting to clear the ball, so I can see the reasoning behind the decision. The goal-line technology system did confirm that Craig Dawson scored, which would have helped enormously had there been no foul.

Today marks the first day of the final round of Group Stage World Cup matches. Kicking off at 4pm ET/1pm PT today are Mexico versus Croatia, and Brazil against Croatia.

Here are the predicted lineups for today’s Brazil vs Cameroon game:

Brazil

Brazil are under huge pressure from their own supporters today after the disappointment of the 0-0 draw with Mexico. Add to that how fortunate they were to beat Croatia in the opening game and they look far from potential World Cup winners. The back four will remain the same with new PSG recruit David Luiz partnering Thiago Silva at centre half. The only changes I am predicting is that Jo will come in for Fred, who was very poor against Mexico and Hulk will replace Ramires on the right of the supporting three. The formation will be the same, a 4-3-2-1 with Luis Gustavo and Paulinho the holding midfielders.

Brazil need to improve tonight and I think they will win comfortably, but question marks will still remain, especially as their last 16 opponents will be the very impressive Dutch or Chile, who were terrific against Spain.

Cameroon

Having suffered defeats to both Mexico and Croatia without reply, Cameroon are out of the tournament. Obviously it is a very tough group and one which they were unlikely to qualify from. Despite this, they have a chance to leave with some pride when they take on the host nation.

Although Cameroon were heavily beaten against Croatia in Manaus, I believe that coach Volker Finke will play their strongest side in a 4-5-1 formation with their most impressive player in this tournament, Vincent Aboubakar to provide the width on the right, along with Pierre Webo on the other side. I expect Samuel Eto’o to play up top in what is likely to be his last ever World Cup appearance. The XI I have predicted is their strongest but I don’t think it will be enough to challenge Brazil. They have failed to score a goal and with confidence low and preparing to return home, I can’t see that stat changing.

France have made a great start to the tournament, in comparison to 2010, after beating Honduras 3-0. Didier Deschamps will deploy the same starting XI that convincingly won that match.There may be a alteration in formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 in order to have a more attacking style and go for the win that will all but secure qualification from Group E.

They have various option up top, including Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud and Loic Remy, but Karim Benzema, who netted twice in France’s opener is the likely starter, with Mathieu Valbuena and Antoine Griezmann providing the width. Evra and Debuchy should keep their places, as should the central pair of Sakho and Varane.

The slight change comes in midfield where Cabaye, Pogba and Matuidi could play as a central three and join in with attacks, opposed to having Cabaye in the number 10 role, behind Benzema. Whichever way you look at it, its a very strong side.

France

The Swiss would have been delighted with their opening victory over Ecuador, coming from a goal down to clinch victory, late on. The win was mainly down to the substitutions Ottmar Hitzfeld made. Despite this, the Swiss will play the same starting XI, with an alteration of system to combat the French’s attacking style that I believe will be 4-5-1. Valentin Stocker and Xedran Shaqiri will supply the width with a tight midfield three of Inler, Behrami and Xhaka to match up with the French.

A point would be a superb result for the Swiss, so why would they want to be more open and play with 4-2-3-1, when they can defend well as a unit and frustrate France. However, they could go the other way and put France under pressure. Either way, I can see a good game, with hopefully plenty of goals!

Switzerland

Swansea cruised to a 4-1 victory against Aston Villa, ensuring the Swans’ Premier League status for another season, but the win put Villa into deep trouble with tough fixtures remaining against Tottenham and Manchester City. But should Wilfried Bony‘s opener have stood? The picture above shows that the Ivorian was in an offside position when Jonjo Shelvey played the ball through. It was a mistake by the assistant referee but the speed at which players move makes the job incredibly difficult. Ryan Bertrand stops and moves up just as Shelvey makes the pass, so it’s very easy to say it’s a poor decision. But we have the benefit of still pictures and several replays, which the match officials do not.

Later in the same game, Nathan Baker fouled Swansea’s Marvin Emnes in the penalty area, with the score at 3-1. Baker was over zealous with his challenge, and clattered into the Middlesbrough loanee, resulting in a correctly awarded penalty that Bony converted to finish the game 4-1 to the Welsh team.

Ryan Giggs took charge of his first game as Manchester United interim manager against Norwich, but it took a 41st minute penalty decision from referee Lee Probert to get the Red Devils on to the score sheet. I have no problems with the penalty being awarded. It was a foul from Steven Whittaker as he pulled Danny Welbeck down, but the interesting point from this is why wasn’t it a red card for Whittaker? Welbeck is clearly one on one with John Ruddy, so I was more than surprised to see the Scottish international remain on the field.

Everton midfielder Leon Osman claimed a penalty during the Toffees’ 2-0 defeat at Southampton, which practically ends Everton’s chances of a UEFA Champions League qualification spot. Dejan Lovren was challenging Osman, but referee Michael Oliver correctly spotted an act of simulation from the midfielder and awarded a yellow card without hesitation. It’s pleasing to see such incidents acted upon by the officials as Osman was always looking to go to ground without attempting to stay on his feet.

It was later on in the second half where Lovren did commit a foul in the box after holding back James McCarthy after a challenge in the area. Lovren can count himself very fortunate to have avoided a penalty award, whereas Everton had every right to feel hard done by.

At Craven Cottage, Shane Long appealed for a penalty in the early stages of the game after colliding with Fernando Amorabieta. The contact was minimal, if made at all, so it was a good decision by referee Lee Mason to allow play to continue as Long had to run between two Fulham defenders to make it to the ball. Therefore, in my opinion, he went down easily.

Hull City defender Curtis Davies however did avoid a penalty, which should have gone in the Cottager’s favor after a hand ball in the box. A long ball entered the area and Davies attempted to control the ball, but an outstretched arm connected with the ball. Although the contact was high up on the arm, I think Mason should have pointed to the spot.

The game at the Britannia was a tough one for referee Andre Marriner. First of all, Emmanuel Adebayor appeared to elbow Ryan Shawcross. Marriner did give the free kick, but didn’t add any further punishment, which leads me to think that he was possibly advised by the fourth official or an assistant to give the decision. There is no doubt in my mind that Adebayor should have been been sent off as it was a disgraceful piece of play.

Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross was sent off for two bookings. The first left no arguments as it was a late challenge on Christian Eriksen but the second was more open for debate. Shawcross kept his eyes on the ball but connected with Danny Rose. At full speed, it looked like a booking. Had Shawcross not been on a yellow, he would have most certainly have been booked for that challenge. The ref got the decision correct in my opinion.

There was further anger from the Stoke fans when Danny Rose reacted to a tackle from Geoff Cameron. Rose raised his arms and pushed the USA international in the chest. For me, it was unsporting behavior from Rose, not violent conduct. A yellow card was sufficient punishment.

Stoke did have a case for a penalty late on, when Spurs defender Michael Dawson collided with Peter Odemwingie. Dawson went through the back of the former WBA striker and also caught him with his trailing leg. A definite penalty, but I think Marriner could have had more assistance from his linesman.

Finally, Cardiff slumped to the bottom of the league after losing 4-0 to relegation rivals Sunderland. Juan Cala was involved in the biggest talking point when he pulled back Connor Wickham outside the area when he was one-on-one with the keeper. The pulling continued inside the area, so by law referee Phil Dowdwas correct to send off Cala and award a penalty. He also gave Sunderland the chance to develop the move, but pulled up play seconds later to penalize Cala. The only issue I have with this is that the contact inside the box was very minimal and the vast majority of the foul was outside, so with a difficult view, I may have awarded a free kick instead, but I can see why Dowd wanted a penalty kick.

Referee Mike Dean was kept very busy at Stamford Bridge on Saturday with two key incidents changing the course of the game. The first was an obvious elbow from Ramires on Sebastien Larsson (see photo above). Dean was perfectly placed, but didn’t spot the clash as he had given advantage to Chelsea. The elbow immediately followed, but with Dean’s eyes on the ball, he cannot be blamed for missing the incident. The Brazilian looked round with a guilty look on his face, and he was incredibly fortunate to still be on the field. The FA will retrospectively act on this and Ramires’ domestic season will be over, and rightly so after this petulant act.

But it was the decision to award Sunderland a penalty, late on in the game that caused the most controversy. Jozy Altidore ran to the by-line and was pressured by Cesar Azpilicueta. The Spaniard went to ground to prevent a cross in my opinion, before Altidore appeared to slip and go to ground. Altidore’s left foot landed on Azpilicueta’s boot (see photo above), which meant he went to ground. I personally think that the contact was made by the American, so a penalty should not have been awarded. The assistant referee flagged, so Dean obeyed and pointed to the spot. A big decision at both ends of the table, but I can only feel that Chelsea were hard done by there.

There were two further penalties, at the Cardiff City stadium in the game between Cardiff and Stoke. Stoke were first to be given the chance to convert after Kim Bo-Yueng fouled former Cardiff player Peter Odemwingie. It was a simple decision for Howard Webb, as that is a free kick outside the box every time.

The second penalty that was awarded showed good consistency from Webb because the incident was very similar to the first penalty. Steven N’Zonzi tripped Frazier Campbell and again Webb blew his whistle after giving himself plenty of thinking time, which is good to see.

Cardiff had the ball in the net again, only moments later only for the goal to be disallowed for offside. Webb seemed to give the goal and then looked over at his assistant Darren Cann who was spot on in raising his flag and disallowing Juan Cala‘s goal, as the picture below clearly shows.

Southampton claimed a penalty during their 0-0 draw away at Villa Park after a Nathaniel Clyne cross went straight into the path of Ryan Bertrand. The Chelsea loanee’s arms were tucked into his body, so Lee Mason made a good decision in waving for play to continue.

Crystal Palace continued on their superb run of form, beating West Ham 1-0 at Upton Park. The deciding goal came from Cameron Jerome winning a penalty after a clumsy tackle from Pablo Armero. Martin Atkinson had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. It was a poor decision from Armero to dive in at that point and commit to a tackle that didn’t need to be made.

Two further penalties were given over the weekend. First at Goodison Park where Phil Jones deliberately hand balled a fierce shot from Romelu Lukaku. The replays showed that David De Gea could have saved the shot anyhow, making Jones’ actions look very poor. All Mark Clattenburg could do was award Everton a penalty.

Swansea had the chance to win the game at Newcastle after Marvin Emnes‘ superb run ended up in a tackle of frustration from Cheick Tiote especially as there were two other black and white shirts around him. Referee Chris Foy was correct in awarding the penalty, which Wilfried Bony slotted away to all but secure the Swans’ Premier League status for another season.

Hull complained about Arsenal’s second goal at the KC Stadium yesterday after Mikel Arteta collided with Nikica Jelavic. The incident was a long way from the Hull net, and the foul was dubious, so its very hard to blame the goal solely on that incident, which would have been a very soft foul.

Finally, Chris Foy was knocked to the ground at St James’ after a the ball rebounded and went straight into the ref’s face. Everybody, including Foy saw the funny side, which is always great to see.

Referee Mark Clattenburg was kept very busy during Liverpool’s 3-2 victory over Manchester City, in what was a huge game in the race for the title. There were several key incidents, which could have benefitted both teams.

Firstly, Edin Dzeko was brought down after a clumsy tackle from Mahamadou Sakho in the penalty area. Dzeko did go down rather easily, similarly to last week, but I was surprised not to see a spot kick being awarded.

Later in the match, I was again expecting a penalty — but this time for Liverpool after City skipper Vincent Kompany seemed to push Luis Suarez to the floor. It was a somewhat theatrical fall from the Uruguayan, but a penalty should have been awarded. The only factor that can be used in Clattenburg’s defense is that Kompany was blocking his view of Suarez, making the decision a tough one to make, and of course, referees cannot guess. They can only go by what they, and their assistants, have seen.

At 3-2, near the end of a superb second half, Martin Skrtel appeared to punch the ball away from a long ball into the box. The picture clearly shows the Slovakian’s intentions. It’s cheating, to put it bluntly. And its a shame Clattenburg didn’t see it. However, with so many bodies flying to the ball, its very difficult to see Skrtel’s arm. City have every right to feel hard done by with that particular incident, which could have changed the result of the game, especially at such a late stage.

Suarez was again involved in further incidents and City claimed that he should have seen red. He was booked early into the game for a late and mistimed tackle. It was in an area of the pitch that a tackle of that nature was not required, especially as the ball was knocked into an open space, leaving Suarez a small amount of time to react. There can be no complaints from Liverpool on that decision.

The second incident is much more controversial. Suarez pushed the ball past Martin Demichelis and opted to run around the opposite side. On first look, in full speed, it looked like Suarez had dived and looked for the free kick. This freeze frame suggests that there was contact made by Demichelis’ back leg. For me though, Suarez was always looking for the free kick and used the trailing leg as a barrier, in order to fall to the ground. The contact is only visable at the slowest of speeds, so it is highly unlikely that the referee saw the incident. I would have sent Suarez off myself, looking at the real time in-play action as it looked like an awful dive.

Chico Flores was sent off for Swansea within 16 minutes of the first half against Chelsea. The first yellow was not contentious. Willian was starting a counter-attack when Flores brought him down. The second decision was called incorrectly by Phil Dowd, in my view. It was a foul on Andre Shurrle, but not reckless in any way. The usual pattern is a warning before the red card, but Dowd seemed to take a long time to think about it, and even told John Terry that he was doing so. A bad move. Referees should not get involved in player conversation over big decisions. Dowd then instantly showed a red card.

In the Crystal Palace-Aston Villa game, referee Howard Webb pointed to the spot after he judged that the ball connected with Ciaran Clark‘s arm, only to reverse his decision after consulting his assistant Scott Ledger. It was a mistake from Webb to give the penalty, but the right decision was eventually awarded.

Finally, Danny Rose won a penalty for Spurs, when his side was 3-0 down at The Hawthorns after a foul in the box. It was a simple decision for Neil Swarbrick, who had no hesitation in providing Spurs the chance to get back into the game. It’s a foul every time outside the box, so it is inside. Not sure why a white line makes a huge difference in honesty. The game is played on the same piece of turf, after all.

There were three major talking points from Liverpool’s 2-1 win over West Ham at Upton Park. Referee Anthony Taylor was kept very busy all afternoon and didn’t have a great game in my opinion. Here’s why. The first controversy was when he awarded a penalty to Liverpool after James Tomkins was judged to have prevented the ball going past him, after Luis Suarez touched the ball to the side of the defender. Taylor got this call correct.

However, he called the following two major incidents incorrectly. West Ham equalized just before half time, but only after Simon Mignolet was fouled by Andy Carroll, leading to the ball being spilt. Guy Demel put the ball in the net, but the assistant raised his flag. Taylor ran over to him, waving furious Liverpool players away. Taylor had given the goal before spotting the flag, but overruled his assistant and gave the goal. This was a mistake by the referee and when he reviews it, he will be disappointed especially because Carroll fouled Mignolet twice, on the head and the arm.

Liverpool were awarded a second penalty when Adrian was penalized for a foul on Jon Flanagan. The young full back pushed the ball past the keeper but Adrian did get a hand on the ball. Flanagan went down and the penalty was given, much to the surprise of Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville and most of the fans in the ground.

Overall, it was a bad day at the office for Taylor, who is still relatively inexperienced at Premier League level, but I am sure that with time, he will improve and learn from his mistakes. After all, it’s a high pressure job especially with all the money involved in professional soccer nowadays.

Manchester City put pressure on their title rivals by securing three points against Southampton. City won the game 4-1 but the game was far from without incident. In the second minute, Jose Fonte brought down Edin Dzeko in the penalty area with a rather hopeful flailing leg, in a desperate attempt to take the ball. Fonte’s leg connected with Dzeko and the Bosnian had no hesitation in going down. Referee Chris Foy called the decision correctly and pointed straight to the spot.

Southampton were awarded a penalty themselves later in the first half after a superb run from Jack Cork led to him being brought down by Pablo Zabaleta. It was a poor piece of defending from the Argentinian, who is an experienced player, so I think he would have been disappointed when he reviews the incident.

Yaya Toure was booked for simulation, when trying to win a penalty and this was a great spot from Foy, who was in a perfect position to see Toure just fall to the ground. The Ivorian knew instantly that he had been caught and the yellow card was brandished.

The most controversial decision during the match was the decision to award City their second goal after a clear offside was not spotted by the referee’s assistant. Dzeko flicked the ball past the Southampton defense to David Silva, who was offside by a wide margin. I can only think that the linesman missed the touch from Dzeko and thought that the ball had come straight through from the previous pass. This could have been resolved if the referee had communicated with his assistant and told him that there was a touch. The assistant could have then raised his flag and resolved the incident.

Chelsea’s Mohamed Salah was clumsily brought down by Andy Wilkinson in the area, during the Blues’ 3-0 win against Stoke City. The penalty was an easy decision for referee Lee Probert to make. Frank Lampard converted the goal at the second attempt after Asmir Begovic‘s save came straight back to Lampard, who scored his 250th goal for Chelsea.

Fulham’s Lewis Holtby was very unfortunate not to be on the scoresheet on Saturday in their much-needed 2-1 victory over Aston Villa. Brad Guzan was  beaten in the Villa goal but Matt Lowton was on the line to prevent the goal being scored. A decision that would have been nearly impossible to call without the goal-line technology system, which has been proven to be a superb investment once again. The virtual analysis showed that the ball did not cross the line, but was unbelievably close.

This weekend’s Premier League fixtures had the least amount of controversial refereeing decisions for a very long time. A good weekend for the officials in that respect, but there were still a few incidents where further punishment could have been taken.

Firstly, Juan Mata was fouled in the box during Man Utd’s 4-1 victory against Aston Villa. Mata was put through after a superb ball by Shinji Kagawa. Mata was just left of goal, on the edge of the six yard box, when Leandro Bacuna clumsily came from behind and took Mata’s legs from beneath him.

Referee Martin Atkinson awarded the spot kick without hesitation and brandished a yellow card almost immediately, but I think there was a case for a red card. Mata was just about to pull the trigger and strike the ball at the goal. Therefore, it was an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Despite the fact that there were defenders covering in the middle, a shot at goal is a goal scoring opportunity, especially when the ball is so close to goal.

In the Crystal Palace-Chelsea game, Gary Cahill challenged Yannick Bolasie in the penalty area in the first half of Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat at Selhurst Park and seemed to take the ball on first viewing, but replays later showed that Cahill went through the back of the Congo international without getting a foot on the ball legally. Referee Lee Mason didn’t deem that there was a foul, but Palace should have had the chance to score a goal before the eventual winner, which came from John Terry’s head.

In the same game, Jose Mourinho was very unhappy and frustrated at the speed at which a Palace ball boy took to return the ball to the field. Mourinho confronted the young lad, and was quoted as saying to him, in his post match press conference:

“I had a chance to get the kid and the kid was cute and I told him ‘you do this, one day somebody punches you.'”

I am surprised that he has escaped punishment for this. Mourinho left his technical area and used poor language, which would only make the young ball boy feel intimidated. Referee Lee Mason didn’t report this in his review of the game, but The FA should be able to act retrospectively on this. Mourinho was correct in thinking that the ball return was slow, but he would have probably been told, as would the rest of the ball boys, to slow the game down, where possible, which isn’t right.

By far the biggest talking point from the weekend’s soccer matches was the decision from referee Andre Marriner to send off the wrong player during Arsenal’s humiliating 6-0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain clearly saved a shot from Eden Hazard. Chelsea appealed to Andre Marriner who took a long time to award the penalty. To me, at this point, the ref was unsure who committed the handball, and if it actually was a handball in the first place. A red card was then brandished, which Arsenal can have no complaints about, even if the ball was not going into the net. A goal scoring opportunity was denied.

I was then astounded to see Kieran Gibbs walking down the tunnel. A clear mistaken identity error by Marriner, but he was not helped by any of his assistants or the fourth official. The whole stadium and the watching audience could tell it was Chamberlain who handled the ball, but in the heat of the moment, he made the wrong decision. Chamberlain then pleaded with the ref that it was him who committed the foul, but a red card decision can not be revoked once it has been awarded.

Arsenal have appealed against the red card for Gibbs and Chamberlain, but I fully expect the one match ban to be transferred to Chamberlain, who instinctively threw a hand at the ball.

I felt for Marriner, but his hesitation to award the penalty did not show any confidence in his decision, despite the lack of support from his assistants. He has apologized for the error and I am sure The FA will resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Everton’s Ross Barkley was awarded a penalty in the early stages of the Toffees 3-2 victory over Swansea City. A long ball forward from John Stones left Barkley one on one against Chico Flores, who stuck a leg out after the ball had past him. Barkley sensed the opportunity to go down and did so. Despite this, it was a penalty and referee Michael Oliver, who has been very consistent this season, had no hesitation pointing to the spot.

Chris Foy was scrutinized for his performance last week at Villa Park, and he was on arguably worse form on Saturday at the KC Stadium. Firstly, Shane Long was judged to be brought down by Craig Dawson. Foy had the perfect view of the incident, but there was minimal, if any, contact made. The linesman did not indicate that there was an infringement, but Foy pointed straight to the spot. West Brom fan’s have every right to be frustrated by the decision.

In the second half, a second penalty incident saw James Morrison brought down in the box. This was a clear penalty. His legs were taken from beneath him and Foy was again in a good position. This was much more definitive than the first penalty claim, so I was very surprised to see Foy wave away the appeals from nearly all of the Albion players.

But is was Hull who were denied another penalty late on. With the score 2-0 to the Tigers, Liam Ridgewell fouled Yannick Sagbo just inside the area. Foy was again in a superb position and had no obstructions, despite Tom Huddlestone being nearby. There is no doubting that a foul would have been given outside the area, which is frustrating because a white line should make no difference to the perceptions of an offense.

Overall, it was a bad day at the office for Foy, who is a good referee, but clearly had a poor afternoon in what was a crucial match at the bottom of the league.

Sam Allardyce was left frustrated with both Manchester United goals after the Hammers’ 2-0 defeat at Upton Park. The first goal was an outstanding moment of genius from Wayne Rooney, who spotted Adrian out of his goal. Rooney then fired a volley from 54 yards straight over a helpless goalkeeper and into the net. However, it was the incident prior to the goal that annoyed Allardyce. He was adamant that Rooney fouled James Tomkins.

Allardyce stated in an interview with ‘Match of the Day’:

“I am 100% convinced it was a foul. The goal wouldn’t have been scored if the ref had done his job properly”.

I find these comments baffling. Rooney was challenging Tomkins for the ball and did have an arm raised, merely for shielding Tomkins. The latter jumps for the header and claims a push. He has to be stronger there, no doubt about it. Rooney’s hand is not in the centre half’s back. He is looking to turn, which he duly did.

United’s second goal was scored on the counter after Kevin Nolan felt he was fouled in the box by Darren Fletcher. Lee Mason was correct not to award the penalty as Nolan was hardly touched and made the most out of the incident. Not a penalty for me.

A superb weekend of Premier League soccer had many talking points, with a huge number of contentious decisions. Here’s what was called correctly or incorrectly by the referees and the reasons why.

Starting with the early kick off at the KC Stadium, Vincent Kompany was sent off after just 10 minutes for bringing down Nikica Jelavic, therefore denying a goal scoring opportunity. Lee Mason had little option but to dismiss City’s captain although he felt he was fouled prior to the incident, but replays later showed that Kompany tripped over his own leg before pulling the Croatian international’s shirt. As you can see from the picture, there were no covering defenders, so Kompany had to go.

After City scored their first goal, George Boyd went down in the penalty area after Joe Hart came rushing out. Referee Lee Mason was again correct. A definite dive from Boyd, but he received no punishment for attempting to fool the ref. Hart reacted badly to the incident and confronted Boyd, and could have easily been sent off for leaning with his head. Boyd too could have received the same punishment for an unsavory spit, aimed at Hart. It was very hard for Mason to spot the spitting, but The FA should certainly take retrospective action.

Chelsea suffered a 1-0 defeat at Villa Park and it couldn’t have gone any worse for Jose Mourinho‘s men. Two players were sent off, as well as Mourinho himself. The first red card was for Willian, who was unfortunate in my view. The first yellow is not up for debate, but the second is incredibly soft. Willian put a hand on Fabian Delph but there was not sufficient contact that would warrant a second yellow. Ramires, however, can have no complaints. His tackle on Karim El Ahmadi was horrific, brought out of frustration and could have easily broken a leg. It was an easy decision for Chris Foy, who had a mixed game, but was correct on this occasion.

At 0-0, Chelsea were denied a goal, after Nemanja Matic was adjudged to have handled the ball, before slotting the ball home. Foy’s assistant, Peter Banks made the call from a difficult view, but ultimately got it right, as Matic was helped by the handball.

Aston Villa’s Joe Bennett was lucky to escape a red card after Ramires was hacked to the ground in the first half. Ron Vlaar was nearby, but Ramires was on goal, so a red card should have been shown.

Fulham manager Felix Magath secured his first victory as their boss, beating Newcastle 1-0 at the Cottage, but it could have been more, had the Goal Decision System not been in place. A fierce shot came off the bar and bounced towards the goal line. It ball looked to be in with the naked eye, but the replay showed that not all of the ball crossed the line. The ball was put into the net by Cauley Woodrow, but he was offside as the ball left Johnny Heitinga. It was a simple decision for Darren Cann, the assistant referee, to make.

Andy Carroll had bold claims for a penalty after Marc Muniesa of Stoke used his hand in the area whilst attempting to header the ball. It was a penalty for me and although it looked like a header at first glance, a closer inspection showed the opposite.

The same can be said for Jan Vertonghen who dragged Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny to the ground at White Hart Lane. Referee Mike Dean had an impossible view, so it was up to the linesman to make a decision. However, he may have been focused on the last man, looking for the offside.

Manchester United’s season went from bad to worse on Sunday after a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Liverpool, who were given three penalties by Mark Clattenburg and should have had a fourth. The first one was for handball against Rafael. His hand was raised and moved towards the ball. The Brazilian was already on a yellow card, but it would have been harsh to dismiss him for that incident. The second penalty is debatable. Phil Jones was punished for a supposed push on Joe Allen. However, Jones didn’t push Allen. He used his shoulders and Allen was always going down after a heavy touch. That decision was hard to understand, not only as a United fan myself, but from an non-blinkered view also.

The third penalty was a clear dive from Daniel Sturridge, which resulted in Nemanja Vidic being sent off for his second booking. There have been various arguments that Sturridge was trying to avoid contact and his manager Brendan Rodgers labeled him an “honest player.” That was clearly not based on this evidence.

Sturridge was later unlucky when Michael Carrick brought him down, but it looked like a slip on first look. Replays later showed that Carrick clipped Sturridge and an incredible fourth penalty should have been awarded.

Even with just five Premier League games this week, there were plenty of talking points to pick out from the referee’s performances.

Starting at Stamford Bridge, Spurs conceded four second half goals in a 4-0 defeat. However, at 1-0 to the Blues, referee Michael Oliver gave a contentious penalty after a collision between Samuel Eto’o and Younes Kaboul in the penalty area. I think it was a soft penalty. Eto’o was certainly looking for a reason to go down and I don’t feel that there was a foul from Kaboul. Oliver then sent off the Frenchman, which added to the punishment, but if the ref deemed it a penalty, he has to then send off Kaboul, which in this case, was very unfortunate.

West Brom‘s woes continued with a 3-0 home defeat to Manchester United. I was lucky enough to be at the game and there were two major talking points from the game. Firstly, Ben Foster escaped a red card when he handled the ball outside the penalty area. Referee Jon Moss had a very difficult view, so it was up to his assistant who had a perfect view to see the incident and make a decision. The assistant either didn’t deem it to be handball, or misjudged where Foster handled it. Either way, it was an incorrect call, which would have caused further problems for the Baggies had they been down to ten men.

Later on in the second half, Robin van Persie was booked for a very poor and late tackle on Morgan Amalfitano. John Moss correctly booked the out-of-sorts Dutchman, but it was Moss’ decision not to send off van Persie minutes later that caused a huge amount of aggravation from the West Brom fans. Van Persie flew into a needless tackle on Steven Reid. Moss awarded the free kick before giving the forward a final warning. From my seat, I thought it was a poor tackle, but a final stern warning is normal procedure from my experiences of watching Premier League football. Replays showed that RVP actually got the ball first anyhow, but Moss was not to know that having given the free kick already. I can see both sides of the argument.

Referee Andre Marriner was kept very busy at Carrow Road during the second half. Firstly, Stoke were awarded a penalty after Sabastien Bassong bundled over Manchester City loanee John Guidetti. A fairly straight forward decision for the ref. John Walters converted the spot kick, but was sent off for a late and nasty late tackle on Alexander Tettey. Walters knew exactly what he had done once Marriner blew his whistle and turned towards him with a very innocent look, but he can’t complain about the red card. The tackle was late and with studs showing at that height, there is always a risk of an early bath.

Referees were kept busy this weekend with red cards, contentious penalty decisions and even a headbutt.

Here’s what the officials called correctly and what they might regret.

The most bizarre incident of the season by far was Newcastle boss Alan Pardew‘s head butt on Hull midfielder David Meyler. The incident came after Meyler wanted to quickly take a throw-in, and pushed Pardew. Meyler was correctly booked for unsportsman-like behavior. Pardew then reacted by leading with his head into Meyler’s head. A ludicrous act that he will no doubt regret. Pardew was sent to the stands by referee Kevin Friend.

Post match, Pardew was apologetic for his actions and openly honest about the situation, which is good to see, but he hasn’t escaped punishment from Newcastle who have fined him £100,000 and there is no doubting that The FA will take action too. I think Pardew should get the same punishment as Paul Ince did, back in October, when he used violent and abusive language towards the officials. Ince was hit with a 5 match stadium ban, and a similar punishment would make a stand on how these incidents should be acted upon and show that further misconduct following from this will be sanctioned in the same way.

Another thing to consider, is: How will the Newcastle players react to this? Their manager has stepped a long way over the line in this incident and what would stop the players acting in this way, and why should they players have respect for their manager? These are all questions that need to be asked.

There have been calls for Pardew to be sacked, but it seems the club have acted early and have no intentions to sack him regarding this incident. I don’t think it is a sackable offense. It should be taken very seriously, but The FA need to punish him severely and a 5 match stadium ban is firm enough.

Swansea centreback Chico Flores saw red and conceded a penalty in the latter stages of the game against Crystal Palace. The incident came from a long ball by Yannick Bolasie. Goalkeeper Michel Vorm made a hash of his attempted clearance, which left Glenn Murray an opportunity to slot the ball home. He was caught by Chico Flores and referee Mike Dean had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, which was followed by a red card for Flores. I have no arguments about the red card, and neither can Swansea as a clear goal scoring chance was there. The foul was committed outside the area, but only just. Both players fell inside the box, making it a very difficult call for Dean and his assistant to make. It should have been a free kick, but it’s very easy to comment on a picture, opposed to real time.

Murray converted the penalty and scored his first goal since returning from a serious knee injury that kept him out for nine months. It’s pleasing to see him play again, as he was a key player last season, helping Palace reach the Premier League.

Everton claimed a 1-0 victory against West Ham on Saturday, but there was a big call for referee Jon Moss to make in the first half. Gareth Barry appeared to pull back and foul Kevin Nolan outside the penalty area. For me, its a certain foul but the argument for a red card is a tough one. The picture (see below) probably just edges towards to a red card, but I can also see why it was not awarded. However, the decision not to award a free kick in the first place meant that a red card was not in the question. With this incident, the assistant referee had a perfect view, so to blame the ref, from his position, is harsh on Moss who has had a decent season on the whole.

Sam Allardyce was obviously critical of the referee’s decision and added sarcasm to his comments post match, with an interview with BBC’s ‘Match of The Day” He said:

“Barry was the last man and its funny how I saw it from 50 yards further away from the ref.”

To me, these comments are unnecessary. He can question the decision, but to start making inaccurate statements on whether he saw it or not is not needed. As West Ham manager, he is always going to have a biased view.

Arsenal’s record at the Britannia Stadium is poor, and that form continued as a 80th minute penalty from Jonathan Walters sealed the three points. The penalty award was justified. Laurent Koscielny had a hand raised and it was not in a “natural position” as the Premier League refs now define handball as. The rule of “deliberate handball” is incorrect as there will be no player who deliberately handles the ball unless preventing the ball going into the net. The ball was bouncing but a raised hand is always dangerous and I believe that referee Mike Jones got the decision spot on.

Earlier in the same game, Charlie Adam was involved in an altercation with Olivier Giroud. Adam appeared to stamp on the Frenchman after the ball had passed. For me, it wasn’t deliberate, momentum took him towards Giroud, but I do also feel that Adam knew where Giroud was. The officials would have had a tough task to spot it, as the ball had moved away from the incident. I wouldn’t be surprised if retrospective action is taken against the Scottish midfielder, but I think it would be harsh as the intent is not clear in my view.

Aston Villa recorded only their fourth home win of the season in a 4-1 victory over Norwich. With the score 4-1 just before the break, Nathan Baker was felled by Alexander Tettey with the use of a high foot. The crowd were calling for Tettey to be sent off, but referee Anthony Taylor took his time and controlled the situation before booking Tettey. It was the correct decision. It was a reckless challenge, but not a case of serious foul play, which would have been a red card offense.

Liverpool were awarded a late penalty in their 3-0 win against Southampton. It was a game where Saints had their chances. Adam Lallana hitting the post from six yards out, which was their best opportunity to get on the scoresheet, but Liverpool were clinical on the break. And indeed it was a breakaway that resulted in the spot kick after Luis Suarez was brought down by Jose Fonte. Fonte stuck a leg out and Suarez made contact with it, before going to ground. I was unconvinced at first, but on a second look, it was a certain penalty. Referee Lee Probert had a very good view of the incident, and had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

The 53rd League Cup final will take place at Wembley this Sunday, with Manchester City taking on Sunderland. Manchester City have had a relatively straight forward route to the final, with their 2-0 win away at Newcastle the toughest test before they went on to beat West ham 9-0 on aggregate in the semi-final. Sunderland, however, have overcome Chelsea, after being a goal down and beat City’s rivals, Manchester United, on penalties, after a dramatic second leg at Old Trafford.

The spirit the Sunderland players showed in the second half at Old Trafford was unbelievable. All eleven players put an extraordinary amount of effort into that game and I firmly believe, despite United’s ongoing woes, that the Black Cats can come up with the goods again, to stun Manchester City, and as we have seen in recent finals, shocks are not uncommon. Birmingham City overcame Arsenal 2-1  in 2011, and Cardiff City came very close to beating Liverpool a year later. Last year, Bradford City made the final, which was a huge shock in itself. So it’s by no means a certainty that City will lift the trophy.

Of course, City’s squad is superior to that of Sunderland. Take the striking options for example. City have four top quality internationals to choose from, with the returning Sergio Aguero a major boost for the Sky Blues, who are looking for their first trophy of a possible four this season. Sunderland do have Steven Fletcher back in their squad, but I am almost certain that its the defense and midfield where the battles will be won or lost for Gus Poyet’s side.

I’ve been very impressed by Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone who has been inspirational between the sticks this season, after been given the chance due to an injury to Kieron Westwood. He has most certainly aided Sunderland’s revival under Gus Poyet, who took over with the side when they were rock bottom of the league. Sunderland’s defense has also improved since the turn of the year, only conceding 10 Premier League goals, as well as progressing to the last eight of the FA Cup.

They will be looking at all 11 players to perform on Sunday, but as well as Mannone, John O’Shea, Wes Brown and Adam Johnson are the key players for the Black Cats. Johnson has been in superb form recently and will be looking to show Manchester City what they are missing after selling him to Sunderland two seasons ago. With a probable 4-5-1 formation, they will be looking at Johnson to produce the goods, as well as fulfilling his defensive duties.

So, City are rightly the odds-on favorites, but if the Black Cats can stick to their plans and frustrate City, there is no reason why an upset can’t be on the cards. On the other hand, an early goal for City will settle the nerves and another one-sided affair could also happen. I hope its an entertaining final and one that will be remembered in the history of the League Cup.

Programming note: For viewers in the United States, the Capital One Cup Final will be shown live on beIN SPORTS and Dishworld at 8:30am ET on Sunday. Even if you don’t have a TV subscription to beIN SPORTS or beIN SPORTS Espanol, you can access those channels via online streaming service DishWorld for $10/month. Read our review of DishWorld. And sign up for DishWorld via their website.

After another eventful Premier League weekend where Chelsea continued their dominance at the top of the table, and both Liverpool and Arsenal scored four goals, there were quite a few key refereeing decisions that changed the results of games, which are examined below:

Liverpool continued their superb home form, winning a 7 goal thriller against Swansea, but this game was not without controversy. The Reds had a 2-1 advantage at the mid point of the first half, when Martin Skrtel was cautioned by Mike Jones for what appeared to be a clean tackle at first glance. It wasn’t until I had a closer look on the replay that I totally agreed with the referee’s decision. The Slovakian centre half caught ex-Liverpool player Jonjo Shelvey and a free kick was correctly awarded. The following free kick resulted in an equalizer for the Swans, much to the frustration of the Kop and Brendan Rodgers. Rodgers felt the free kick was soft, but the set piece should have been defended better. Wilfried Bony was unmarked, and had the free kick been cleared, there would have been no controversy surrounding the decision.

Liverpool regained the lead before the break, but gave Bony a chance to level it up again from the spot, after being bundled over in the box by Skrtel. I have mentioned on several occasions in these articles that shirt pulling and holding needs to stop in the box and Skrtel is a regular offender. He isn’t alone, but he does get away with obstructing opponents, so I am pleased that Mike Jones spotted the incident and awarded the spot kick. I think Skrtel, who was already booked, was very fortunate not to receive a second yellow card, which could have changed the complexion of the game.

In the match between Southampton and West Ham United, manager Mauricio Pochettino was left annoyed with the decisions of the officials during Southampton’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of West Ham, who recorded a fourth straight Premier League win. The Saints went one up before a contentious offside call from Mark Clattenburg‘s assistant ended with Matt Jarvis slotting home an equalizer for the Hammers. The above picture reveals that it was offside, marginally. A part of Jarvis’ body, which he can score with, was offside, so the flag should have been raised. Although, Luke Shaw had just stepped up, making it a very difficult decision to make with the naked eye. It’s very easy to comment on this replay, but the speed that the game is played nowadays makes calls such as this very difficult to judge.

Also in this match, Southampton thought they were denied a penalty when they believed James Collins made contact with the ball via his arm. Mark Clattenburg was suitably placed to make the call, which was the correct one, as replays showed the ball hit Jay Rodriguez‘s arm.

Speaking to BBC‘s ‘Match Of the Day’, Pochettino was very unhappy with the performance of the officials:

“The first goal was a clear offside and we were denied a clear penalty.

“We were unlucky with the refereeing decisions.”

In the match between West Brom and Fulham, the Goal Decision System (GDS) was again beneficial to the officials when a late Matej Vydra strike crept over the line after a fumble from Fulham stopper Maarten Stekelenburg to earn a point for the Baggies. There is no doubting that the linesman would have had a very difficult job in making a split second decision, if the GDS was not available. However, the belated invention of it has relieved a significant amount of pressure from the officials.

Lastly, Manchester United bounced back to winning ways with a hard fought 2-0 victory away at Crystal Palace. The deadlock was broken by a Robin van Persie penalty, after a clumsy challenge by Marouane Chamakh on Patrice Evra. Chamakh did a lot of defensive covering and worked hard for the 70 or so minutes that he was on the field, but a split second loss of concentration denied the Eagles a possible draw.

Sunday’s FA Cup match between Arsenal against Liverpool was superb. A classic cup tie with end-to-end goalmouth action resulted in a 2-1 victory for the Gunners, against an in-form Liverpool looking to build on a 5-1 demolition of Arsenal, only a week ago.

However, this game was packed with controversial decisions. From penalty appeals to red card claims, this game had it all. So, what did Howard Webb get right or wrong?

By far the most controversial moment in this game was the decision not to award Luis Suarez a second penalty after a collision with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The ball had been shifted wide of Chamberlain before his momentum followed through into the Uruguayan. On first look, I thought it was a dubious decision by Webb not to award the penalty. This instinct was proven correct by the replays, which showed that Chamberlain had body-checked Suarez, obstructing him from moving to the ball. The only reasoning I can provide in Webb’s defense is the theatrical fall from Suarez. Don’t get me wrong, I believe it was a definite penalty, but Suarez’s reaction must have put an element of doubt in the referee’s mind, therefore not awarding the penalty. The reaction of players should not matter, but unfortunately it does. Arsenal and Chamberlain can count themselves very lucky. BT Sport co-commentator Andy Gray described the incident as a “stone wall penalty” and I find it very difficult to argue against his point of view.

Its very easy to comment on the replays, but Webb’s positioning was ideal, around 10 yards from the incident. As a referee, you couldn’t wish for better positioning, which makes the decision to turn down appeals all the more strange. I think he will realize when he watches it back that he made a mistake, but no referee is perfect. I am fully confident that Webb will find his A-game soon and continue to be one of, if not the best refs in the world.

Earlier in the game, at 2-0 to Arsenal, Suarez was felled in the box by Lukas Podolski. There was minimal contact, but it was sufficient enough for the penalty to be awarded. A fantastic decision by Webb, who had many bodies to look through, to spot the foul. Suarez had a lot to do to create a scoring opportunity, but a clumsy tackle gave Suarez the perfect chance win the spot kick.

Steven Gerrard was correctly booked for a cynical foul on Podolski in the first half. The ball had long left the ex-Bayern Munich youngster before the England skipper took his legs from behind him. It was an easy decision for Webb to award a yellow card as Gerrard knew what he was doing, denying Arsenal a fast counter attack. Later in the game, with the score at 2-1, Gerrard took a huge risk, attempting a sliding tackle on Chamberlain. On first look, I was certain that he was going to be sent off for a second bookable offence. I was surprised that he escaped punishment as it was a reckless tackle from behind and as the picture shows, it was nearly impossible to make contact with the ball from his position, without going through the Ox.

Finally, in this action packed game, Raheem Sterling was adamant that he was fouled by Laurent Koscielny, which is arguable. However, Sterling then shouted at Webb, looking for a free kick before he raised his hands to Webb and touched his chest area. A certain case for a yellow card for dissent. Webb called captain Steven Gerrard over for a consultation, which resulted in Webb showing his leniency where a more experienced player may have been shown a yellow card. Sterling is young, but needs to learn that showing dissent isn’t going to achieve anything in the modern game.

Overall, a below par game from Webb, but all refs have good and bad games and even highly experienced refs such as Webb can make mistakes. They are human, after all.

The introduction of goal line technology this season has resulted in key decisions being made correctly through the use of the referee’s watch, which beeps whenever the whole of the ball crosses the goal line.

During Tuesday’s game at the KC Stadium between Hull City and Southampton, there was a goalmouth scramble where 3 shots were fired towards the net in quick succession. Jose Fonte’s shot appeared to be cleared off the line by Maynor Figueroa before Rickie Lambert eventually converted from the rebound. However, the goal decision system had awarded the goal to Fonte, as the picture shows above. There is no doubt that the goal line technology system is a superb addition to the Premier League and had there not been technology, the goal may have been chalked off, as the assistant referee would have had an impossible job in seeing the ball. The same would go for the extra officials, who are deployed behind the goal in Europa League matches.

The only answer is to use technology and I am delighted that it is being used in the World Cup in Brazil, later this year.

At Craven Cottage, Liverpool came from behind to snatch all 3 points away against Fulham on Wednesday night, but they have to thank Fulham’s German right back Sascha Riether for gifting the Reds a late penalty. Fulham had played well to take the lead twice and were looking like holding on to a valuable point, but Riether, an experienced professional, let his side down by making a needless tackle on Daniel Sturridge, who would have had to do well to find a red shirt in the box. It was a clumsy challenge that gave referee Phil Dowd no option but to award the spot kick, which was duly converted by Steven Gerrard.

Dowd had to be on his toes following an earlier tumble after Kolo Toure accidentally ran into him, much to the crowd’s delight.

Meanwhile over at The Hawthorns, Branislav Ivanovic was booked for dissent towards the officials during Chelsea‘s disappointing 1-1 draw against Pepe Mel’s West Brom. The ball went out for a throw in, which went in favor of West Brom. Ivanovic then had a rush of blood to the head and went over to the assistant and started shouting and pointing his finger at him. There are rarely yellow cards for dissent these days, but Ivanovic had to be punished for what was both dissent by word and action, fitting in with the wording in the laws of the game.

Here are the key refereeing decisions from this past weekend’s Premier League matches:

Eden Hazard starred in a 3-0 victory for Chelsea against Newcastle, with the third goal coming from the penalty spot after Samuel Eto’o was wrestled to the ground by Magpies centre back Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. It was very poor defending by the Frenchman, not only because he had both arms around Eto’o, but because he decided to do this where the referee and his assistant could clearly see what he was doing. Many players escape punishment for pushing in the box, such as Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel, who is a regular offender, but the referees have a very tough job in seeing through many bodies from set pieces. In this instance, Howard Webb had no option but to award the penalty and I am hoping that the referee’s will clamp down on incidents such as this. There is no place for rugby tackles in soccer.

Sunderland’s Wes Brown was sent off for the third time this season in their home game against Hull City. There is no doubt that the red card was a correct decision by Mike Jones. Brown took Shane Long‘s legs from behind him and as he was last man and the ex-Manchester United defender knew he had to head to the dressing room for an early bath. However, I do have some sympathy for Brown, who was put in a very difficult situation as a result of a stray pass from Phil Bardsley, which left the Irish striker one on one with the keeper. Brown had to intervene, but as he was behind Long, it made the challenge very awkward.

There were two incidents at the weekend that happened off the ball. The first is shown below, where Yaya Toure seemed to kick out at Ricky van Wolfswinkel. Referee, Jon Moss did not see it in my view, after looking at replays, so there was a potential case for retrospective action to go against Toure and that could have led to a 3 match ban, only if the referee did not mention it in his match report. However, The FA has ruled today that Toure will escape punishment.

My view on this is that Toure should have been banned. It was a moment of madness from the Ivorian, which for an experienced professional is surprising, possibly showing his and his team’s frustrations at being held at Carrow Road.

The second incident involved Craig Bellamy and Jonathan De Guzman during the Welsh derby on Saturday evening. Bellamy appeared to make contact with the Dutchman with a clenched fist (see photo at top of story). It wasn’t a full blown punch, but it was certainly violent conduct, which similar to the Toure incident, should be a 3 match ban. This incident was easier for referee Andre Marriner to see. And I am glad that Bellamy has been charged today by The FA. The contact was minimal and De Guzman did fall over, but the act is enough to charge Bellamy with violent conduct.

Between the Bellamy and Toure controversies, there is little difference between the incidents, so I am uncertain as to why the panel have decided to charge Bellamy but not Toure. Both players should have been charged, so expect Cardiff to appeal as there is a clear inconsistency here.

At 2-1 to the home side between Crystal Palace and West Brom, Baggies goalkeeper Ben Foster was judged to have fouled Marouane Chamakh inside the penalty area. Chris Foy pointed to the spot after what was a very difficult decision to make and it was a call that Foy had to be 100% sure it was a penalty. I can see why he awarded the spot kick, but for me, there was an element of doubt. Foster did make contact with the ball with his boot before Chamakh went over the top of Foster. It was a harsh decision I felt, and one that changed the game when WBA were looking to get back in it.

In Everton’s 1-0 defeat at Spurs, Seamus Coleman was involved in a penalty appeal where Ettiene Capoue made a clumsy tackle in the box. For me, it wasn’t a penalty though. This is because Coleman was heading down to the ground before Capoue challenged him. Coleman had skipped past one tackle in the box and that’s where he went down, before Capoue’s challenge. Former Premier League referee Alan Wiley agreed with my point of view. He was discussing the key incidents from the weekend on ‘The Monday View on Sky Sports News and felt that the fact Coleman was going down had an impact on Mark Clattenburg‘s decision. Wiley added that if a referee has any element of doubt, you can’t give the penalty. From my experiences, this statement could not be more accurate.

Rather bizarrely, it was a quiet weekend in terms of controversial refereeing decisions. I have picked out three that are the most talked about following Gameweek 24.

During Chelsea‘s superb performance in a 1-0 win against Manchester City, there was an incident late on involving Matija Nastasic and Oscar as Chelsea tried to break on a counter attack. Nastasic fouled the Brazilian playmaker. And despite appeals from Jose Mourinho and his players, Mike Dean correctly showed the yellow card. There is no statement in the rules that mention a player being “last man”. The foul was a long way from goal and it wasn’t (as the law states) “denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity.” There was also another defender covering, so it is hard to make a case for a straight red card.

By far the most talked about incident from the weekend was Howard Webb’s decision to send off West Ham front man Andy Carroll only 60 minutes into his first start after a severe heel injury. The ex-Newcastle and Liverpool man had a key role in both goals, but on the hour mark, he was involved in a tussle with Swansea‘s Chico Flores.

After both players contested the ball, Carroll swung his arm around, which caught the Spaniard. The picture below clearly shows that contact was on the top of the head. Chico’s reaction was shameful and pathetic, rolling around on the floor until the red card was brandished. However, despite that, I think Carroll showed intent and attempted to catch Flores, albeit very subtly, using violent conduct. Therefore, I believe Webb made a good decision and after watching the incident in full speed on several occasions, my opinion doesn’t change.

On the other hand, Chico Flores certainly had an effect on the award of the red card, making the incident look worse than it actually was, holding his face, which obviously didn’t take impact. My view on this is that although West Ham have lodged an appeal, the red card should stand and Flores should also face a 3 match ban for effectively cheating. Unfortunately, The FA won’t take retrospective action against Flores, but it is something that they should address in combination with UEFA and FIFA, to stamp out cheating — whether that be diving or contributing to a red card.

West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce was furious with the decision to send Carroll off, stating:

“That was him (Flores) squealing and centre halves aren’t supposed to squeal.

“I’ve just had a look at it and from our point of view I can’t see why Howard has decided to give him a red card.”

Plus Allardyce argued that Carroll’s arm was swinging around to maintain balance. I find that very hard to believe.

Finally, Newcastle United‘s Vernon Anita brought down Phil Bardsley in the penalty area at 0-0 during the Tyne-Wear derby, which resulted in the Black Cats running out 3-0 winners. It was an unnecessary challenge that gave referee Phil Dowd little option but to award the penalty, which was duly converted by Fabio Borini.

Better late than never, here’s a review of the key refereeing decisions from the mid-week Premier League matches — and what the match officials got right and wrong.

Beginning at White Hart Lane, the home side were 1-0 down and half time was approaching, when a free kick from Christian Eriksen was converted by an onside Michael Dawson. However, the flag was raised by the assistant referee. I can only assume he has flagged for Emmanuel Adebayor being in an offside position, where he interfered with play as the ball was fired across the penalty area. Adebayor didn’t make contact with the ball but did interfere.

It is hard to distinguish whether the linesman was flagging for Dawson, and made an incorrect call, or if he penalized Adebayor for being in an offside position. I personally have the opinion that the goal was correctly disallowed, but I am not convinced that the linesman was penalizing Adebayor. A decision that former Premier League referee, Graham Poll disagrees with, stating:

“There were thoughts that Emmanuel Adebayor, who was in an offside position as the ball was crossed, might have been given offside but Ledger (assistant) was alleged to have confirmed that it was Dawson for whom he flagged”.

Later on in the same game, Manchester City were awarded a penalty, with the score still 1-0 to the away side. Left back Danny Rose was alleged to bring down Edin Dzeko in the penalty area. Initially, Andre Marriner didn’t award a penalty, but after consulting his assistant, the penalty was awarded, as was a red card. Rose definitely took the ball and the penalty award was incorrect in my view, but Rose didn’t help his own cause by pulling on Dzeko’s arm, as he went in for the tackle. However, the contact wasn’t enough to knock Dzeko off balance, which the assistant should have spotted as well as clean contact with the ball. The assistant had a tough game, but key decisions in big games do have an impact on the result, and although City were looking good for the win with 11 vs 11, ten man Spurs couldn’t stop the flow of goals.

Mathieu Flamini was awarded a straight red card during Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw with Southampton after flying into a tackle with Morgan Schneiderlin. It was two footed and out of control. This was a simple decision for Lee Mason to make. The picture below shows that he was perfectly placed and to avoid being surrounded by Saints players, he produced the red card immediately, diffusing the situation. Tackles such as this in the modern game are only going to be resulted in a red card, so a player with Flamini’s experience should know better and there is no doubt he has let himself and his team down, not just on Tuesday, but for the next 3 games.

Moving on to Villa Park, where a seven goal thriller went in favor of the home side, but the game did have two very similar incidents, with differing outcomes. Firstly, at 3-3, West Brom central defender Diego Lugano half pulled down Christian Benteke. No complaints about the decision and it was pleasing to see a foul in the box for shirt pulling be awarded. Only a couple of minutes later, Ciaran Clark took a huge risk in bringing down Lugano in an identical incident. A clear penalty, which Mark Clattenburg missed, showing some inconsistency, which is all too common in the penalty box.

At 3-0 to the red side of Liverpool during the Merseyside derby, Raheem Sterling was judged to be brought down by Tim Howard. At first I thought it was a dive by Sterling and I am still convinced it wasn’t a penalty, but Howard doesn’t help his cause by sprinting out and committing himself to grab the ball. He missed the ball, which gave Sterling the opportunity to take contact and win the penalty. There were calls for a red card, but there was a defender covering the goal line, as well as the path of the ball, which was heading away from goal.

A bizarre incident at Stamford Bridge involving Samuel Eto’o resulted in the Cameroonian putting the ball in the net before West Ham goalkeeper Adrian took what he believed was a free kick. The referee (Neil Swarbrick) blew his whistle and ran towards Adrian. I assume he told him it was a free kick because a goalkeeper would not place the ball on the floor and turn his back. The referee didn’t signal for the free kick, which led to the confusion but the right decision was the conclusion. No goal.

Stoke midfielder Steven N’Zonzi was sent for an early bath by Rob Madely after two yellow cards, both involving Jozy Altidore. The first yellow card was justified. However there was more debate about the second yellow card. The picture below shows where N’Zonzi fouled Altidore. He was denying a goal scoring opportunity, so a straight red should have been awarded instead of the second yellow. A straight red would result in a 3 game ban, opposed to a 1 game ban for 2 yellows.

Both Loic Remy and Bradley Johnson saw red at Carrow Road. Both players encountered some handbags before Remy put his head towards Johnson’s head. Johnson did overreact but Remy’s red was justified in my view. Johnson did contribute to the red card for Remy, but I felt his red card was slightly more harsh and a yellow would have been sufficient punishment.

Finally, Alan McGregor was sent off for an attempted kick at Stuart O’Keefe during Crystal Palace’s 1-0 win vs Hull City. It was a mindless thing to do and although minimal contact was made, it gave referee Chris Foy not much choice in sending the Scottish stopper off.

In the review of this past weekend’s refereeing decisions in the Premier League, there’s only one place to start and thats at Anfield where Luis Suarez was judged to be brought down by Aston Villa keeper Brad Guzan. The score was 2-1 to the away side at the time, so this was no doubt a huge decision for referee Jon Moss to make.

Unfortunately, the referee was in a poor position for this call — not because of his fitness levels, but as a result of the pin-point cross field pass from Steven Gerrard. Moss is also unlucky as the incident is on the opposite side to the assistant, who would have been in a perfect position had it been on his side of the pitch.

From Moss’s angle, I can fully understand why he has given the penalty. With no help from the assistant referee, he has a decision to make and Guzan gives Moss that choice, when he didn’t need to commit to the challenge. I personally don’t think it was a penalty, but you have to understand the speed of the game and the distance the referee has had to make a very important call from, even though Suarez went down very easily. I feel Suarez used Guzan’s error to his advantage and was looking for contact, moving away from the direction of the ball and into the American keeper’s arms. I don’t think it’s a dive, but there is no doubting that Suarez looked for contact and went down when there was still a scoring opportunity.

Analyzing the incident on BBC’s Match Of The Day, pundit Alan Shearer and presenter Gary Lineker both thought it was a penalty. Shearer said:

”I think you’ve got to give the benefit of the doubt to Suarez there. I know he’s gone down too easy at times.

“If Guzan’s going to be silly enough to come rushing out like that on a wet pitch, sliding out. What is Suarez expected to do here?

‘Is he meant to jump over him and get out of the way and hurdle out of the way, so he doesn’t make contact with him?”

I know Shearer is a highly respected former player, but I have to question him. Condoning a player buying a penalty shows how much the game has moved on. TalkSport pundit Stan Collymore took the alternative view and thought that Suarez dived. Afterwards, he was involved in a heated Twitter conversation with Lineker, where Stan tweeted:

“And the fact some very well respected ex pros genuinely believe diving/cheating is justifiable says more about the game in 2014 than me.”

I see both points of view, but conclude that it wasn’t a dive, or a penalty. It was just “clever” play from Suarez, which is not good for the game.

Moving on to Manchester United’s 3-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge, there were two controversial decisions within the space of a minute, at the very end of the game. Firstly, United skipper Nemanja Vidic made a very late and reckless tackle on the again impressive Eden Hazard. I was as amazed as anyone when Phil Dowd produced the red card. I know I may be biased, but there is nothing in the challenge that is dangerous. It was a tackle in anger, but not a red card. There would have been no complaints from either team if a yellow card had been shown. Only seconds later, Rafael da Silva went in for an arguably worse tackle on Gary Cahill. The challenge was fast and with both sets of studs showing. It was a definite red card. However, Dowd cautioned the right back. I feel he may have been compensating for an earlier mistake, but ended up getting both decisions wrong.

Meanwhile, Wes Brown was again involved in a contentious decision, this time with Southampton’s record signing Gaston Ramirez. Brown did get the ball, but followed through to catch the Uruguayan on the ankle, causing him to be stretchered off. I think a yellow card would have been fair, as it was a genuine attempt for the ball and not with excessive force.

Manchester City front man Alvaro Negredo, was involved in a similar incident with Cardiff’s Aron Gunnarsson, but missed the ball and caught the Icelandic midfielder on the ankle, after the ball had gone. The tackle wasn’t pleasant and Negredo can count himself very lucky that referee Neil Swarbrick didn’t send him off. A poor tackle.

Finally this week, the first goal awarded by the Goal Decision System occurred. In the Cardiff-Manchester City match, the replay showed that the ball was comfortably in and proved the system works, although I’m not quite sure why the Cardiff players protested the goal, considering that there is a watch on the referee’s wrist that alerts him when a goal is scored.

Editor’s note: Read reviews of key referee decisions from previous Premier League weeks.

Starting at St James’ Park, where the most controversial decision of the weekend took place. Newcastle’s Cheick Tiote hit a superb strike, which flew into the net, following a corner. There were three Newcastle players in an offside position as the ball left Tiote’s boot. As soon as the Newcastle players and fans celebrated the goal, Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart appealed for offside to the assistant referee. Referee Mike Jones communicated to his linesman via his earpiece before running over to discuss the decision.

To me, it looked a perfectly good goal and I was surprised when it was disallowed. The assistant referee initially did not raise his flag, which indicates that he either didn’t spot Yoan Gouffran in an offside position, or he didn’t deem him to be interfering with play. On replay, you can see Joe Hart shouting at the assistant “I couldn’t see anything”.

The picture below shows that the only players in the England number 1’s vision were Manchester City players. Gouffran is nowhere near Hart’s eye line. Mike Jones is in a decent position, but the force of the strike was so much that he was possibly taken aback at how quickly the City players disputed the goal.

Gouffran does move out of the way of the ball before it strikes the net as Hart was clearly beaten and made no attempt to dive it is hard to make a case for Gouffran being active and interfering with play. It would have been different had the ball hit Gouffran and deflected in. I think Mike Jones has made a bad call that has resulted in him being dropped for this weekend’s games. However, former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher believes that the officials came to the right decision. Speaking on Sky Sports News’ Monday View, Gallagher argued that Gouffran moving out of the way of the ball made him active. Therefore he was in an offside position. The laws of the game state:

A player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by:

•        interfering with play or
•       interfering with an opponent or
•       gaining an advantage by being in that position

I am certain that Gouffran was not committing any of the above offences.

In the same game, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa made a very late challenge on Samir Nasri, which has resulted in the Frenchman being sidelined for eight weeks. Yanga-Mbiwa initially fouled Nasri from behind, before kicking out and swiping his left leg into Nasri’s knee. The Newcastle defender can count himself very fortunate to only receive a yellow card.

Moving on to Sunday’s thriller between Stoke City and Liverpool, which ended 5-3 to Liverpool, referee Anthony Taylor awarded Liverpool a penalty with the score 2-2. Raheem Sterling was brought down in Taylor’s view by Marc Wilson. For me, I didn’t think it was a penalty at real time speed. The closer camera angle lead me to the conclusion that it wasn’t a foul and merely a collision between players. However, looking at the referee’s perspective, I can understand why he gave the penalty, but help from his assistant was required, not only for the penalty, but for the handball by Sterling prior to the penalty award. Sterling’s arm was raised and the ball connected with the youngster. The ref had a very difficult view to make a decision from, looking straight into the back of Sterling. The linesman had a much better view and I think it was a poor decision to let the game carry on, where a dubious penalty appeal could have been avoided.

West Ham secured a much needed win with a 2-0 victory to Cardiff in Ole Gunnar Solskaer’s first league game since Malky Mackay’s harsh sacking. Again, West Ham had a player sent off, this time it was James Tomkins who was sent for an early bath by Lee Mason. The first of his 2 yellows was for a reckless tackle on Frazier Campbell. The ball was passed Tomkins before he slid in, making no contact with the ball. No arguments about the yellow card. Shortly afterwards, with the score line still at 1-0 Tomkins again fouled Campbell, with a high boot that caught the former Manchester United and Sunderland striker in the face. It was a clumsy attempt for the ball and Mason correctly sent Tomkins off, with the help of his assistant.

Cardiff did have two penalty claims turned down though. The first was a correct decision as George McCartney’s arms were down and in a natural position when the ball hit the defender, following a shot that McCartney was not far away from. The second appeal is more controversial. In a previous referees article I mentioned that fouls in the penalty box need to stop and this was highlighted again when Campbell was involved with a tussle with McCartney, where he had both arms around Campbell, not allowing him to move. For me, a certain penalty, but I get the impression that referees are letting incidents like these happen. Not the correct way to assess those situations in my view.

Two more penalty decisions will conclude the latest instalment of controversial Premier League refereeing decisions. In Sunderland’s much needed 4-1 win away at fellow strugglers Fulham, Phillippe Senderos brought down Jozy Altidore with the score 3-1. The tackle was unnecessary in my opinion, with not much support around the big USA striker. The tackle was late summed up the frustrations the home side were showing. In Tottenham’s 2-0 home victory against Crystal Palace, the visitors had an early chance to score from the spot after a late foul on Marouanne Chamakh from Moussa Dembele. There was not much contact, but enough for a penalty to be awarded by Michael Oliver, who has been very consistent in recent weeks and made another great decision here. Jason Puncheon couldn’t convert the penalty and in somewhat comical circumstances, skied the ball very and certainly not handsome!

Editor’s note: Read reviews of key referee decisions from previous Premier League weeks.

From the Premier League matches on New Year’s Day, we saw that referee Howard Webb had a poor game in Manchester Utd’s fourth home defeat of the season, but it couldn’t mask the huge problems the Champions have.

Manchester United slumped to defeat at the hands of Tottenham, who look rejuvenated under Tim Sherwood, now playing a 4-4-2 system. Emmanuel Adebayor has been very impressive since his return to first team football and scored the opener at Old Trafford in a 2-1 victory for the Lilywhites, making AVB’s decision to not use him even more bizarre.

United, on the other hand, are in need of a clearout in my view. As a United fan myself, it is very difficult to watch a squad that is certainly the poorest in the last decade. The midfield area is the weakest, but I think a top quality winger, a left back, a centre back plus two central midfielders are needed, not necessarily in this transfer window, but definitely in the summer. Players such as Anderson, Nani and Antonio Valencia are not performing, as well as two older players in Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra, who I think is on his last legs as a Premier League player.

Howard Webb was in charge of the game yesterday and I personally think he had a mixed game. Early in the second half, with United 1-0 down, Danny Welbeck went down after a tackle from the impressive Vlad Chiriches. There is no doubt that this was a tough call for Webb to make, but I felt (bias aside) it was a penalty. Welbeck was traveling at full speed and I think any contact will make the England international lose balance. Chiriches made contact and Welbeck went down. Webb didn’t give the penalty, but I’m unsure why he didn’t book Welbeck for diving, if he felt there was not sufficient contact.

Only a few minutes later, after two goals in one minute made it 2-1 to Spurs, their goalkeeper Hugo Lloris came charging of his line, which he has a reputation of doing, and brought down Ashley Young in the penalty area. Young has been known as a persistent offender of diving, but Lloris made no contact with the ball and went straight through Young, who did his best to avoid being clattered. I could not believe it wasn’t a penalty. David Moyes called the decision “scandalous” in a post match interview.

Lastly on the United-Spurs game, Adnan Januzaj was again booked for diving after a challenge from left back Danny Rose. It was a harsh booking. There are many challenges similar that result in free kicks and unfortunately, Januzaj’s building reputation as a “diver” went against him, which further angered Moyes who said in his press conference post game “Have you seen that decision? That is a terrible decision. Adnan got bumped.”

Despite all of these incidents, it doesn’t mask the problems United have at this moment. Moyes is now under huge pressure from the United faithful to get the checkbook out in this window, but I think it’ll very hard to find the right player, right now.

Moving on to Chelsea’s 3-0 win at Southampton, I was in awe of Oscar’s performance after he came on for Juan Mata, who reacted to being substituted in a negative manner. Credit to Jose Mourinho though, the subs changed the game and the Blues ran out comfortable winners. Oscar scored one and was instrumental in the flowing attacks Chelsea created. However, he was booked at 0-0 for a dive in the penalty box, after beating goalkeeper Kelvin Davis but deciding to make contact with Davis and go down, when all he needed to do was stay on his feet and roll the ball home. Davis was beaten and pulled out of the challenge to avoid conceding a penalty, so Oscar made a strange decision to go down. It was a great spot by ref Martin Atkinson, who immediately showed the yellow card.

West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce is now under huge pressure after the Hammers lost 2-1 to fellow strugglers Fulham in what was being called a relegation 6-pointer, even at this stage of the season. West Ham took the lead through Mohamed Diame but were pegged back by Steve Sidwell’s header. Shortly afterwards, Kevin Nolan was spotted by Mark Clattenburg in an off the ball altercation with Fernando Amoriabieta. Nolan, who is an experienced player and captain of West Ham, pushed over the Fulham defender before deciding to kick him in the back of the leg right under the nose of the referee. Clattenburg showed the red card and Nolan had no complaints. Allardyce states post game that Nolan let his side down. Not just yesterday, but for the next 3 games. This is Nolan’s second sending off in a month, following another off the ball incident with Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson. The Cottagers went on to win 2-1 and lifted them out of the bottom three.

West Bromwich Albion started the new year better than they finished the last, with a 1-0 win over Newcastle, scoring a late penalty courtesy of Saido Berahino, who I must say, is a very promising talent for the future. Before the decisive goal, Mathieu Debuchy flew into a tackle with Claudio Yacob and the French right back made a very poor challenge, with both feet off the ground, combined with pace. Lee Mason had no option but to send him off.

Finally in this very packed article, Marouane Chamakh was very lucky to avoid a red card from Mike Dean. He pushed Wes Hoolahan in the face after a disagreement. Dean must have seen the altercation, as he booked both players, but he definitely made an incorrect call, which could have changed the game.

Editor’s note: Browse through the previous weeks of key Premier League refereeing decisions.

Boxing Day saw all 20 Premier League teams play, producing some very interesting results and a number of goalkeeping howlers. As ever, the referees were kept very busy with red cards, penalties and goal line decisions.

Fouls inside the box from set pieces are increasingly becoming more and more frequent. Jumping on players’ shoulders, pulling shirts and holding players happen all the time, by every team. When I referee myself, it’s very difficult to spot one incident where 22 players are inside the box. However, something needs to be done. Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel is a major culprit. It is hard for the officials, but incidents in the box need to stop. I am not saying there should be no contact in the box, but blatant obstructions need to be cut out and referees should be on high alert and start giving penalties and free kicks to start reducing the amount of antics that go on.

Starting at St James’ Park where Newcastle provided a knockout punch, defeating 9 man Stoke City 5-1, the Magpies were 1-0 down until just before half time. Stoke’s first red card was for Irish midfielder Glenn Whelan for two bookable offenses. The first yellow was awarded for a tackle from behind on Moussa Sissoko. Referee Martin Atkinson correctly showed the yellow card. Only a few minutes later, Whelan fouled another Newcastle player and he knew instantly that he was in trouble. Atkinson showed the second yellow card, which infuriated Stoke boss Mark Hughes who was sent to the stands for protesting with fourth official Andre Marriner. Stoke were 1-0 up at the time, so you have to question Whelan for making two rash tackles in the space of 10 minutes. He gave Atkinson no choice.

Just before half time, Marc Wilson conceded a penalty and was shown a red card for bringing down Loic Remy, when the Frenchman was through on goal. Again, Atkinson judged it spot on. Remy was one on one, despite there being another defender inside the box. Wilson had no case to argue, but this isn’t the first incident where Wilson has brought down a player denying a goal scoring opportunity. Only last Saturday, he brought Aston Villa’s Andreas Weimann down and was fortunate not to be sent off. Newcastle missed the penalty, but ran out 5-1 winners. Stoke only have themselves to blame in my view, however, manager, Mark Hughes didn’t think that was the case. In an interview with BBC’s Match of the Day, he was asked about the red card decisions. Hughes was quoted as saying “It went wrong when the referee got involved. The initial sending off was very, very harsh — ridiculous in fact. Myself and everybody expects a better standard of refereeing.”

Hughes has been known to complain about decisions regularly, but the blame must go to his players for having to play with 9 men for 45 minutes.

Sunderland travelled to Everton where the bottom side were in desperate need for 3 points to keep in touch with the strugglers in the bottom half of the league. Half way through the first half, Everton shot stopper Tim Howard misplaced a goal kick and it went straight to South Korean Ki Sung-Yeung, who went straight for goal before being brought down by Howard. Lee Probert correctly awarded a penalty and a red card. Howard attempted to get the ball but cannot complain with the decision as I believe that Ki would have scored if there was no foul, as there was an open goal.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was angry at the offside decision where Raheem Sterling was through on goal. It was obviously the wrong decision at a key point of the game, with the score 0-0, but Rodgers was unhappy with numerous decisions during the game and questioned the referee’s integrity. Speaking to Match of the Day, he said “I was surprised that we are playing in Manchester and we had a referee from Greater Manchester.” I don’t agree that a Lancashire ref should be in charge of Manchester City games, but any manager questioning the referee’s integrity is very hard to prove.

West Bromwich Albion’s Steven Reid was very lucky not to sent off for a dangerous tackle on Danny Rose. Reid was already on a yellow card, but referee Anthony Taylor should have shown Reid a straight red as the tackle was out of control and with excessive force.  

Editor’s note: Browse through the previous weeks of key Premier League refereeing decisions.

I was at Villa Park yesterday to see under pressure Manchester United take on Aston Villa. The atmosphere pre-game was low key from the home supporters, which was surprising given United were on a two game losing streak in the league and were under huge pressure to get three points. The Manchester United fans, however, were fantastic. They never stopped singing all game, the best chant being “We are staying up!” after Danny Welbeck scored his second goal.

United comfortably won the match 3-0, and it was their best performance since their 5-0 thrashing of Bayer Leverkusen. Villa, on the other hand, were desperately poor and devoid of ideas throughout the game.

Villa were missing key players such as Ron Vlaar and Fabien Delph, but manager Paul Lambert’s team selection was very strange. This game was a perfect chance to attack United and put the onus on them to break Villa down. Right back Leandro Bacuna was left on the bench as well as Andreas Weimann, but Marc Albrighton earned a start. You have to question this decision as it was his first start since New Year’s Day. Striker Christian Benteke has not scored in 9 games and it was clear to see why this is the case on Sunday. Long ball after long ball was punted towards the big Belgian but he lost nearly every challenge with Phil Jones and did not look interested, eventually being subbed for Libor Kozak, who has been much more effective this season.

Aston Villa’s away from is decent (three draws and a victory in the last four away matches), with unlikely wins at Arsenal and Southampton and a creditable comeback against West Brom to draw 2-2 but the home form is letting them down and could consequently drag them towards the relegation zone. It’s pleasing to see young English footballers having the chance to play in the Premier League, with Ashley Westwood being the most impressive, but I think Villa will be very fortunate to avoid the drop if they continue to play as they did in the 3-0 defeat in the hands of Manchester United. The reason being is that they leak goals defensively and don’t seem to have a Plan B.

Editor’s note: For the latest Villans news, analysis and opinion, visit the Aston Villa team page.

An action packed weekend in the Premier League saw 30 goals and a number of controversial refereeing decisions. Some of the key decisions and my views on them are discussed below.

The first game of the weekend was Manchester City vs Arsenal and it certainly lived up to the pre-match hype and expectation. The final score was an incredible 6-3 result and it could have been more! At 3-1 to the Sky Blues, City right back Pablo Zabaleta raised an arm after a through ball from Jack Wilshere. Zabaleta did raise his arm and the connection with the arm did stop the ball’s path. So on that basis, it was a penalty in my opinion. Martin Atkinson is an experienced referee, but at 3-1 this was a crucial decision and one he didn’t quite call correctly. However, it is questionable if the decision had an effect on the result. Man City were superb for the whole 90 minutes.

Everton continued their unbeaten run with a convincing 4-1 win over strugglers, Fulham. At 1-0 to the home side, Gareth Barry was judged to have brought down Swedish international Alexander Kačaniklić. It was a difficult decision for referee Anthony Taylor to make as it was a clumsy challenge, but Kačaniklić did make the most of it. I don’t think I would have given the penalty, but I can see why it was given.

A 1-0 away defeat at Cardiff resulted in West Bromwich Albion boss Steve Clarke losing his job. The Baggies have been struggling of late and Saturday was no different. Peter Whittingham put the Bluebirds 1-0 up with a sublime header before Shane Long was denied a penalty, after a clear foul by Steven Caulker inside the box. Howard Webb didn’t see it like that, but who knows if Clarke would still be in a job had the penalty been awarded and converted.

Liverpool ran riot at White Hart Lane on Sunday, winning 5-0 and playing Spurs off the park. The defeat turned out to be Andre Villas-Boas’ last as Spurs boss as he was sacked on Monday morning. With the score at 2-0, Paulinho challenged Luis Suarez to an aerial ball. Paulinho was late and caught Suarez in the chest area. A dangerous challenge, so referee Jon Moss was spot on in awarding a red card.

Southampton midfielder Morgan Schniederlin was given a caution for a late tackle on Massadio Haïdara and it was soon apparent that both benches disagreed. A small brawl led to both teams’ goalkeeper coaches being sent to the stands. There is no doubt that it was a hard tackle from the French U21 international but I think it was more reckless than with excessive force. Therefore, according to the law. referee Mike Jones made the correct call.

On a lighter note, Mike Jones was caught in the face and knocked down by Moussa Sissoko accidentally, after trying to help Saints goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga stand up. It’s always a comical moment when the ref takes a tumble.

As always, please leave comments below.

Editor’s note: Browse through the previous weeks of key Premier League refereeing decisions.

There were significantly more controversial decisions this weekend, compared to last week, so here are my opinions on some of the key decisions.

In Tottenham‘s 2-1 victory at the Stadium of Light, Spurs midfielder Sandro looked to have handled the ball in the box from a corner kick. For me, his arm was not in a natural position and the man in the middle, Lee Mason, did not make the correct call. I personally think that there is too much inconsistency with handballs. The laws state it has to be “deliberate”. There are very few incidents where players deliberately handle the ball, so the law needs rewording and changed to whether the position of the arm is in a natural position. This would make it much clearer for referees and reduce the inconsistency.

Kevin Nolan was shown a red card in West Ham‘s 4-1 defeat at Anfield on Saturday after a very late tackle on Jordan Henderson. Referee Michael Oliver was 100% correct with his decision, as Nolan dragged his studs down the back of Henderson’s leg. Serious foul play.

Despite Hammers boss Sam Allardyce agreeing with Oliver’s decision to dismiss Nolan, he claimed that Liverpool youngster John Flanagan should have also seen red in the early stages of the game for a similar type of tackle on ex-Red Stewart Downing. I disagree. Although Flanagan tackled from behind and caught Downing on the back of the leg, the intensity of the tackle was nowhere near that of Nolan’s and I believe that Flanagan was making a genuine attempt for the ball, whereas Nolan was not.

Norwich changed their fortunes on the road after a 7-0 drubbing at the Etihad and a 4-0 defeat against Liverpool in their last 2 away games, with a 2-0 win at The Hawthorns. Although West Bromwich Albion were on top for most of the game, Norwich took their chances well, which was mixed with good defending. At 1-0, WBA had a corner that was headed towards goal and Martin Olsson’s post. The ball appeared to be stopped by the arm of the Swedish international. Again, similar to Sandro, Olsson’s arm was in an unnatural position and as the ball moved closer to goal, Olsson’s arm moved towards the ball, preventing a goal. Therefore, a penalty and a red card for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity should have been awarded by Mark Clattenburg, but you have to have some sympathy with Clattenburg, as the incident was the opposite side of the linesman and it was very difficult to spot in real time speed.

Finally this week, Fulham were awarded a penalty in their 2-0 home win against Aston Villa. Alex Kacaniklic was adjudged to be brought down by Leandro Bacuna. Referee Mike Dean had a very good view of the incident, but gave the penalty when it looked like Kacaniklic moved into Bacuna and not the other way round. The Swedish winger can count himself lucky for being awarded the penalty.

Editor’s note: Browse through the previous weeks of key Premier League refereeing decisions.

In the last couple of weeks, referees have been under a substantial amount of media pressure after Andre Marriner’s penalty decision at Stamford Bridge and Wes Brown’s red card at Stoke. It was therefore important that the referees had a good weekend, to rebuild some confidence heading into the busy christmas period.

Starting at White Hart Lane and the Welbeck penalty incident, some of the key refereeing decisions will be highlighted.

There is no doubt that this was a tough decision to make. Danny Welbeck was traveling at a fast pace at a diving Hugo Lloris. Referee Mike Dean got the decision spot on. Although replays suggest Welbeck may have dragged his trailing leg on the floor to make contact with Lloris. Despite this, Lloris committed to coming out of his goal, which in hindsight was probably the wrong decision, as Welbeck was running in the opposite direction. However, in that situation, Lloris has to claim the ball. If not, it’s a penalty, providing there is no simulation. The French captain did not claim the ball and did make sufficient contact with Welbeck, so the referee had no option in my view. It was a big decision in the game, as Spurs had just taken a 2-1 lead, but Dean kept his composure and made a brilliant decision.

There were two major diving incidents this weekend involving Robbie Brady of Hull and Chelsea’s Michael Essien. Brady was clearly looking to make contact with Lucas inside the penalty area, but experienced referee Howard Webb was perfectly placed to spot the dive and rightly booked the Irishman. Essien was also correctly given a yellow card in the game against Southampton. After a poor start to the game, gifting Jay Rodriguez an early Saints goal, Essien’s performance led to him being substituted at half time. The dive only made the performance worse and credit must go to referee Michael Oliver for spotting it.

Finally, there was a bizarre incident involving Olivier Giroud at Cardiff. He was played through after Ozil stretched to make a pass to Giroud. However, both referee and linesman didn’t deem that Ozil made contact with the ball. Its difficult to see on replay whether Ozil did get a touch, but if he didn’t, Giroud was onside and should not have stopped.

Overall, a very good weekend for the Barclays Premier League referees.

Editor’s note: Browse through the previous weeks of key Premier League refereeing decisions.