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Ref Watch: David Luiz should have been sent off, says Dermot Gallagher

Chelsea's Brazilian defender David Luiz (C) vies with Manchester City's Argentinian striker Sergio Aguero (R) during the English Premier League football ma
Image: David Luiz vying with Sergio Aguero

Ref Watch is back to debate another selection of controversial decisions from some of the weekend's Premier League matches.

Former top-flight official Dermot Gallagher has been in the Sky Sports News HQ studio to analyse a number of contentious calls from weekend.

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From debatable dismissals and dubious penalty decisions to unpunished horror tackles and uncontrollable melees, we have it all covered in this week's edition.

Manchester City 1-3 Chelsea, Premier League, Saturday

INCIDENT: Chelsea defender David Luiz appears to block Sergio Aguero as the Manchester City striker attempts to break through on goal.

SCENARIO: Referee Anthony Taylor puts his whistle to his lips, but instead decides against awarding a free-kick despite the apparent foul that denied a goalscoring opportunity and would have seen Luiz sent off.

DERMOT'S VERDICT: Incorrect decision

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Should David Luiz have been penalised for his challenge on Sergio Aguero?

DERMOT SAYS: David Luiz knows what he's doing, the ball is within possession of Aguero once he gets past. The ball then only runs away because he stops him. I think it's a foul and a red card.

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You see Anthony make that decision in his head, then he takes his whistle away. All I can think is he's had some input from one of his assistants to say it's not [a foul] from their angle. That does surprise me because, having seen the incident, if I was the referee you'd have to sell me a big, big deal for me to change my mind like that. 

Manchester City 1-3 Chelsea, Premier League, Saturday

INCIDENT: A brawl breaks out between the two teams after Aguero's late red card for a rash challenge on Luiz.

SCENARIO: Players and coaching staff rush in from all sides with Manchester City 3-1 down. Fernandinho is also sent off for pushing Cesc Fabregas over an advertising hoarding, while the Chelsea midfielder himself and team-mate Nathaniel Chalobah are also booked. 

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Aguero tackle sparks brawl

DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision

DERMOT SAYS: The four officials are asked to make different angles, to ring-fence it and see who is an instigator and who is a peacemaker, if you like. When you saw that you're seeing people come from the touchline, the bench, managers and everybody is involved. 

Anthony has taken strong action against the obvious perpetrator Aguero, while Fernandinho also gets red carded [for pushing Fabregas]. Chalobah was carded for his aggressive push towards an opponent. What will happen now is Anthony will report this incident to the FA, who have the option of looking at a video and deciding what to do themselves.

In that situation the referee has done as much as he possibly can. Whatever happens it's impossible to say the referee can control that. It's much easier to look in the cold light of day and say: "Well this happened, this happened and this happened, and we're going to take this action."

Manchester City 1-3 Chelsea, Premier League, Saturday

INCIDENT: Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was seen sarcastically applauding the referee on the touchline after a decision went his side's way at the Etihad Stadium.

SCENARIO: Despite the apparent show of dissent, no action was taken against the City boss by the referee and he remained on the touchline for the rest of the match.

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Pep sarcastically applauds ref

DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision

DERMOT SAYS: It was a feisty game on Saturday, it was tough and there were a lot of things happening. You've just got to accept we can't have zero tolerance. It might be that [the referee] just said to the fourth official: "whisper in [Guardiola's] ear and have a word with him to be careful and back off a little bit." There was enough going on without actually adding fuel to the fire.

Manchester City 1-3 Chelsea, Premier League, Saturday

INCIDENT: Diego Costa scores the equalising goal for Chelsea despite appearing to use his arm in the build-up.

SCENARIO: The Chelsea striker isn't penalised, beats Nicolas Otamendi and goes on to find the back of the net. The goal is allowed to stand and the Blues go on to win the game.

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Did Costa handball it?

DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision

DERMOT SAYS: I think he's taking it on his chest. His arm is out, but for balance. Otamendi appeals at the end but his first priority is to go after the ball. He doesn't even stop to think he's handled the ball, and for me he's taken it well and it was a good goal.

Everton 1-1 Manchester United, Premier League, Sunday

INCIDENT: Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo lunges in two-footed on Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye.

SCENARIO: Despite the nature of the challenge, Rojo is only shown a yellow card by referee Michael Oliver.

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Rojo's 'red-card' lunge?

DERMOT'S VERDICT: Incorrect decision

DERMOT SAYS: There's no debate whatsoever for all kinds of reasons. The distance he's come, and it's a giveaway just to see how long he's airborne. The assistant has the view from behind, the referee has the view from coming in.

It's ticked all the boxes. He's gone through the air, he has no control of his body, it's two-footed, he's out of control and he's going to endanger the safety of his opponent. It's a red card and we can't say any more.

Tottenham 5-0 Swansea, Premier League, Saturday

INCIDENT: Dele Alli wins a penalty for Tottenham after appearing to be fouled in the box by Swansea defender Kyle Naughton.

SCENARIO: There doesn't appear to be much contact, if any, between the Tottenham midfielder and Naughton, but referee Jon Moss points to the spot and Harry Kane goes on to score the opening goal.

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Harry Kane celebrated his new deal with a double – but did Dele Alli dive to win his penalty opener?

DERMOT'S VERDICT: Incorrect decision

DERMOT SAYS: Dive. I don't often use that word because I don't like saying it, but for me that's not a foul. At best I'd say that Dele Alli has initiated the contact, but for me Naughton has done nothing wrong whatsoever.

West Brom 3-1 Watford, Premier League, Saturday

INCIDENT: Watford midfielder Roberto Pereyra is sent off after an altercation with James McClean late on during the game, while the West Brom man picked up a booking.

SCENARIO: McClean aggressively kicked the ball at Pereyra while the game was still going on, and Pereyra's reaction saw him dismissed at The Hawthorns by referee Graham Scott.

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Did McClean get lucky?

DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision

DERMOT SAYS: This is a very interesting incident. The ball is actually in play, so there's no foul that's been committed as [McClean] can kick the ball as hard as he wants. The fact it's hit Pereyra is part of the game.

It might not be very nice and [Pereyra] might not like it, but by law he's done nothing wrong. What followed has obviously been spotted by the fourth official and I thought he and the referee did really well, they got together and talked everything through. 

People say it looks messy, but it looks good because they haven't made a rash decision, they've discussed it all and came to the conclusion that Pereyra was the more guilty one. He's got a red card for kicking out and McClean got a yellow card for his aggressive attitude. It wasn't deemed violent.

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