Ref Watch: Kieran Trippier’s red card against Man City and Lucas Digne’s handball assessed by Dermot Gallagher | Football News

Dermot Gallagher dissects the big flashpoints from the weekend’s Premier League action.

Crystal Palace 3-1 Aston Villa

INCIDENT: Crystal Palace awarded a penalty for a Lucas Digne handball at a corner.

VERDICT: Very harsh.

DERMOT SAYS: This is the one incident I watched over and over again, and thought, ‘How do I address this?’. For me it is very harsh to give a penalty for that. It was touch and go if it was going to hit his head on the way down and if it did, it wasn’t going to be a penalty. If you look at it, the ball didn’t. The VAR said his arms are shoulder height, in an unnatural position, and it was heading towards goal. I honestly think if he didn’t intervene, no one would have made a big thing of that because no one expected a penalty. Not a penalty.

Newcastle 3-3 Man City

INCIDENT: Kieran Trippier handed a red card for a sliding challenge on Kevin de Bruyne, which was overturned to a yellow.

VERDICT: Right decision.

DERMOT SAYS: I can understand why the referee has given a red card. He’s got the ‘staring down the barrel of a gun’ view, he thinks he has kicked him across the knee. I think Peter Bankes was excellent, he looked at it and asked Jarred Gillett what he’d seen. He came back to him and said, ‘I’d describe it as a cynical tackle, but not serious foul play. He said, ‘he hasn’t caught him with the studs across the knee, I’d advise you to go to the monitor and have a look’. He went and had a look and, to his credit, he agreed and the right decision was made.

Fulham 3-2 Brentford

INCIDENT: Christian Norgaard given a yellow card for a tackle on Jay Stansfield – should it have been red?

VERDICT: Right decision.

DERMOT SAYS: Not a nice tackle, but yellow card. He is low, and it catches him on the ankle – and the directives which they work to is above the ankle. I think he is just on the cusp.

INCIDENT: Joao Palhinha awarded a yellow card for an elbow on Ben Mee – should it have been a red card?

VERDICT: Right decision to show a yellow card.

DERMOT SAYS: Again I think yellow card because I think he’s jumped at him, but he hasn’t jumped at him leading with his elbow or his forearm. I think it looks bad because of how Ben Mee goes back. But it’s a challenge that looks worse than it is.

West Ham 0-2 Brighton

INCIDENT: Penalty to Brighton for Thilo Kehrer’s slide tackle on Danny Welbeck on the edge of the box.

VERDICT: Right decision – the penalty area line is in the box.

DERMOT SAYS: My immediate reaction was penalty, obviously the VAR has to check. What people don’t realise is that the penalty area line belongs to the goalkeeper, so a foul on the line of the box is a penalty. Welbeck’s boot is definitely on the penalty area line and that was the only check, was it inside or was it outside. It was done very quickly and no need to send the referee to the screen because it’s factual.

Leeds 3-0 Chelsea

INCIDENT: Kalidou Koulibaly sent off for two bookings.

VERDICT: Right call.

DERMOT SAYS: No argument for either. You see the second one, and if you are on a yellow card already, do you need to do that? He runs across him, but he makes it very clear he is going to bring him down.