Pundit Garth Crooks was left stunned that Chelsea were awarded a penalty in the first half of their recent Premier League game against Arsenal.
He told BBC Sport that the decision to penalise William Saliba for handball was staggering, with officials left having something to answer for.
Mykhailo Mudryk’s headed effort at goal hit the hand of the French centre-back, with it originally not being given as a penalty.
Marc Cucurella’s crunching challenge made sure the game could be stopped and allow VAR to check the decision, with it eventually being given as a penalty.
After somewhat of an embarrassing episode where Raheem Sterling tried to take the spot kick for himself, Cole Palmer stepped up and converted for the second successive game.
Crooks appalled at penalty decision
Crooks has now claimed though that the decision to give the penalty itself was a terrible call.
He said: “The decision by referee Chris Kavanagh to award Chelsea a penalty for the attempted headed clearance by William Saliba was worse than awful. What exactly the referee expected the defender to do with his arms in that situation I can’t begin to imagine.
“It was hardly surprising Mikel Arteta looked utterly perplexed. The faceless bureaucrats who created this rule, and have put referees in an impossible position, have something to answer for.”
Some Chelsea fans meanwhile will have been thinking that it was about time they got some good luck from officials, with them feeling particularly hard done by over the last few seasons.
Realistically though, there have been far more controversial decisions given by officials in the Premier League this season, with the PGMOL having to come out and apologise to teams recently for their incompetence at the big moments.
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