Should Liverpool have ended the game at Etihad Stadium with 11 men? Was Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli unfairly disallowed a goal following VAR review? Did Wilfried Zaha receive an unjust reprieve after he missed his first penalty attempt against Leicester?
Tuesday 12 April 2022 06:03, UK
Dermot Gallagher dissects the big talking points from a busy weekend of Premier League action at both ends of the table, including Manchester City's showpiece with title challengers Liverpool.
INCIDENT: Fabinho on Bernado Silva - it was a yellow card. Could or should it have been any more?
DERMOT'S VERDICT: It's not a nice tackle, it's a yellow card.
DERMOT SAYS: It's reckless. It doesn't warrant a red card in any game, let alone this game. It wasn't because he let a little bit more go than he should have done. You can't say that. That's a yellow card offence.
Stephen Warnock: "I felt the same. One thing I would say about Fabinho is that he wasn't out of control. He didn't leave the floor and jump into the tackle. There was no excessive force. I think he knew straight away it was a mistimed tackle."
Sue Smith: "It looks worse when it's slowed down. When you see it in real time it looks like a yellow. When it's slowed down and you see where the contact is, it does look a little bit naughty. Maybe an orange."
INCIDENT: Thiago is already on a yellow card when challenging Kevin De Bruyne. He gets the free-kick himself first - could this have been a second booking for him on another day?
VERDICT: No; there's two issues.
DERMOT SAYS: Firstly, he's pushed which causes him to go in. If you look, it's shin on shin. There's no contact with the studs, he hasn't left his boot in to cause damage. That's as a result of him being pushed.
Sue Smith: "That probably saves him, the push. It puts him off balance. That saves him from getting another yellow."
INCIDENT: Youri Tielemans' trip on Jordan Ayew, which was given as a penalty on field. Any complaints?
VERDICT: This is a penalty. He dangles his leg.
DERMOT SAYS: There isn't a massive amount of contact but once you dangle a leg like that you have to get the ball. The certainty is that he didn't.
On the penalty retake - by encroaching it gave Caglar Soyuncu the advantage to get to the ball first. He clears the ball. He has an impact on the outcome of that decision. He cleared the ball as another Palace player was coming in to shoot.
Stephen Warnock: "It's like a sprinter in a 100m race. Sometimes you want that edge, to try and get there a bit quicker. What you often find is players start one or two yards behind the line to give them that rolling start. He set off slightly too early."
Sue Smith: "It's so frustrating when that happens. But that's your role, as a defender. It is just the instinct; you've got to try and get in there to clear it."
INCIDENT: Three minutes and 46 seconds to decide whether Gabriel Martinelli's header stood.
VERDICT: A complicated decision but ultimately the correct one.
DERMOT SAYS: They had to establish whether Gabriel had headed the ball or the defender. It was Gabriel. Then it was all about Cucurella's foot, Martinelli was actually obscuring him, so it took a long time to show the correct angle.
This was an exceptional case. We've seen the decisions speed up so much this season. We've accepted it, we've embraced it. This was a rogue decision, it was one that caught everyone on the hop because they couldn't find Cucurella's foot. It's going to happen. Hopefully that's the last one this season.
Stephen Warnock: "I think a lot of people won't have understood what the wait was for. Trying to find Cucurella's foot, how difficult that is. Ultimately, for me, yes it's frustrating the time it's taken, but the right decision has been reached. That was a big moment in the game. If you were a Brighton fan, you're happy to wait as long as the right decision comes."
INCIDENT: Teemu Pukki goes down on the edge of the area.
VERDICT: No penalty because the referee blew outside of the area to award a free-kick.
DERMOT SAYS: This is a very interesting decision. Because the referee has blown. If this incident had continued, and it does continue into the box, if the referee had let play continue he's within his rights to give a penalty.
It gets thrown to VAR. Because the referee has given a free-kick, it's outside of the box so therefore the VAR has to go with the referee's original decision. The foul did start outside of the box. Free-kick, not a penalty.
He didn't wait. Had he of waited he could well have given a penalty but because he's blown, the foul is just outside the box.
