Tuesday 29 December 2015 10:18, UK
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has criticised referee Neil Swarbrick for booking Yohan Cabaye, which rules him out of the Eagles' clash with Chelsea.
Cabaye was handed a yellow card for a late challenge on Swansea's Jack Cork during the sides 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park.
Pardew was furious with the decision, throwing his water bottle to the ground in anger, and speaking to Sky Sports after the stalemate, the manager voiced his frustration with Swarbrick.
"I was very disappointed with Yohan Cabaye's booking," he said. "A top, top player like that mistimes a challenge like that and gets booked by the referee, it was wrong and he misses the Chelsea game and therefore misses a big occasion for us, a big occasion for our fans.
"Referees have to look at themselves with decisions like that. The referee's too easily handing out yellow cards, it's ridiculous. He had an indifferent game for me today."
The result left Palace in fifth position with 31 points and was the second 0-0 draw in succession after the same result away at Bournemouth on Boxing Day.
And Pardew admitted his side were feeling the effects of a busy fixture calendar: "In terms of effort and commitment after their second game in three days, of course they did [impress him]," he added.
"But you lack a little bit of spark, a bit of energy. It was evident in both teams I thought. They had a fresh team we had a team that played two days ago with a couple of changes. But that little bit of individual flair was missing. Having said that we still could have won it, we had a great chance at the end."
While Palace enjoyed the majority of possession and looked the most threatening going forward, Swansea were resolute in defence and Pardew praised the performance of Swans' captain, Ashley Williams.
"Williams I thought was like a magnet. Every time we went near that box he seemed to cut it out, get a head on it, get a foot on it, read the situation. It was a pain in the butt, if I'm honest."
