#7 Controversial decisions
Trending
(a) Mark Clattenburg’s officiating during Hull City’s visit to the Emirates left a lot to be desired in terms of refereeing standards and performance. The official failed to spot a handball – Alexis Sanchez’s goal came off his palm – and was later reported to have apologised to the Tigers players. However, the official referee panel concluding that it was a goal should count for something.
What must have certainly aggrieved Marco Silva and his men, though, is Clattenburg failing to send off Kieran Gibbs. The Arsenal defender blatantly fouled Lazar Markovic who was through on goal and if not for the illegal stoppage, would have found himself one on one vs. the goalkeeper. Was a clear goal-scoring opportunity thwarted? Well, the official let off Gibbs with just a yellow.
Harry Maguire’s cheeky foul and indulgence with Theo Walcott and Andrea Ranocchia’s tackle on Sanchez went unnoticed by the referee as well, who instead chose to book Walcott for dissent and Sanchez for diving.
(b) Sofiane Feghouli was fouled in the run up to West Brom’s opening goal and Slaven Bilic subsequently went wild in the dugout. The Croatian thought his team deserved a free kick but referee Michael Oliver had other plans.
Oliver later disallowed Feghouli’s goal as Michael Antonio was entangled with Ben Foster just before the goal was scored. It seemed a harsh call, considering Antonio did not interfere or attempt to play the ball (and Feghouli was definitely played on by an injured Dawson who lay sprawled in the box) but the assistant flagged it and the referee called it.
Slaven Bilic was sent to the stands in the dying moments of the game as he had thrown a pitch-side microphone to the ground, following the visitors’ last-gasp equaliser.
