Liverpool’s title rivals will struggle to catch them, Jamie Carragher has said – even though the Premier League season is only three games old.
The pundit has been hugely impressed with how the Reds have started their Premier League title defence, with a win against lively Leeds United, followed by imperious victories over top-four challengers Chelsea and Arsenal.
In comparison, Manchester City, last year’s runners-up, have already dropped points, their defence being dismantled by Jamie Vardy in a 5-2 reverse to Leicester City at the Etihad Stadium.
But it is Liverpool’s 2-0 win away to Chelsea and last night’s comfortable 3-1 triumph at home to the Gunners that makes the former Liverpool defender think the title may be destined to return to Anfield this season.
‘The first game [a 4-3 win at home to Leeds], they didn’t quite look at it,’ Carragher told Sky Sports.
‘But to respond with the performances they have done against two of their top-six rivals, I just think it sends out a major message these last two games that Liverpool are going to take some stopping.’
An improving Arsenal team put up a fight at Anfield on Tuesday, but Liverpool were better all over the pitch – with and without the ball – and showed a desire that suggests they want to turn last year’s title success into a period of domination of English football.
It was a similar story at Stamford Bridge. Even before Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen was sent off at the end of the first half, Liverpool dominated their opponents, and in the second half they simply took the game away from the 10-man opposition.
Carragher believes the Reds have had an advantage over some of their rivals because their early exit from last year’s Champions League has allowed them to prepare well for this campaign.
Manchester City and Chelsea were involved in the Champions League well into the summer and Manchester United competed in the Europa League, losing 2-1 in the semi-final to Sevilla on August 16.
‘I always felt Liverpool would have an advantage in that they knew when their season was finished,’ said Carragher. ‘The teams in Europe could go out the next day, or stay for another week to get to a semi-final or final.’
The average first innings score in a Test match is around 325. Suppose the ICC introduced a new rule which, overnight, altered a decent total to 850? That is what the new handball law has done to English football.
It has impacted the game so dramatically it can only be an aberration. It is impossible to justify such a seismic effect. FIFA’s arbiters have not changed a rule; they have changed a sport.
The greatest number of penalties awarded in a Premier League season — the modern era is our only realistic comparison here — is 112 in 2009-10. Coming out of Sunday’s games there had been 20 given already, in just 26 matches.
At this rate there will be 292 penalties this season — so 2.6 times the record rate. That is not fair, logical or reasonable.
Take any mean statistic in sport and multiply it by 2.6 and the ludicrousness of this becomes apparent. The average score in the NBA last season was 111.8. What rule change would be required to make that 290.6? A ban on defensive players jumping? A basket six times the size? Hitting the backboard counts as three points?
The average driving distance on the 2019 PGA Tour was 293.8 yards. What if technology stretched that to 763.8 yards? Par fives could be reached in one shot, with a middling iron. That’s no longer golf. But it’s also just a multiplication of 2.6.
And, remember, the example here is not the average number of penalties, but the record. The average is low 80s. We’re almost a quarter of the way to that number already and four teams haven’t played three games yet.
So this is wrong. It doesn’t matter whether you can see what the officials were trying to do. It doesn’t matter that they had the game’s best interests at heart. This is a terrible mistake and, if it is not corrected, the sole rationale would be that certain teams have already been so affected that it can only be fair if every club is equally disadvantaged over 38 matches.
No way to run a game, though, is it, all lurching swings and 180 degree turns? Last season, the rules were unfairly weighted towards defenders.
A ball could strike a defensive arm in the penalty area and be viewed as accidental, but if it so much as glanced a player who was on the attack, anywhere in the build-up to a goal, that was a foul.
When Tottenham played Sheffield United, a ball was kicked against Lucas Moura as he fell after being tripped, but it rebounded to Harry Kane, who scored. The verdict? Handball and a disallowed goal. For the restart, Tottenham did not even get a free-kick for the foul tackle.
When West Ham played Sheffield United the ball was headed against Declan Rice as he ran. Sheffield United’s John Egan was actually across Rice’s body to divert the ball off his chest and on to his arm.
It was a point-blank collision, impossible to avoid. Robert Snodgrass then scored, and VAR intervened, ruling against the oblivious Rice. Everyone agreed the system was a joke. So IFAB looked at it and came up with something worse.
A handball rule that remained punitive — Moura and Rice would still be judged to have handled under the new laws — but now widened its net to target innocent defenders, too. And as defensive handballs often take place in the penalty area, an even greater corruption of the game is taking place.
Yet we all know why we’re here. On August 25, 2018, Willy Boly of Wolves scored with a hand against Manchester City. He didn’t mean to. Joao Moutinho crossed, Boly arrived at the far post, missed the ball but accidentally diverted it into the net.
He didn’t try to cheat, he just got lucky, because the handball wasn’t spotted and the goal stood. And that, plainly, wasn’t right.
So if a rule had been introduced to ensure no player could score with a hand or arm, even accidentally, that would have solved the problem. What has followed is the work of fevered former officials, like Pierluigi Collina, seeking involvement.
First, any handball in the build-up got caught in the net, followed by an attempt to impose black and white judgments on an area that would be healthier left grey.
VAR has caused this by promoting the idea we can make perfect judgments, previously beyond the capability of officials. That was the promise: perfection. Now we will always know whether a shot is over the line, or a player is offside or a ball is handled. Except that isn’t true.
Even goal-line technology proved fallible when Aston Villa played Sheffield United last season while, for offsides, precision has hardly eradicated feelings of injustice, particularly as the moment a pass is played cannot be recorded as precisely as the movement of a forward’s armpit or toe.
Yet handball is the literal game-changer because it attempts to make finite an aspect of football that was more fairly judged by individual perception.
As Roy Hodgson, the Crystal Palace manager, argued, handball was about intent. Perhaps about advantage, too.
Kai Havertz did not intend to handle the ball late against West Brom, but Chelsea certainly gained when he did because the move eventually led to their equaliser. Nobody would have complained had that been given as a foul.
Equally, there have always been penalties awarded against players like Joel Ward of Crystal Palace, who protested the ball merely struck his arm as he tried to get it out of the way against Everton.
Tough: some get given, some do not. That was football and we accepted its contradictions because we could always follow its logic, and see both sides of the argument.
The current situation is unfathomable. Eric Dier receives a glancing blow he could not avoid: penalty. Havertz watches the ball come in, misjudges, handles and gains an obvious benefit: no foul.
We were better off before because, amid the inconsistency, there was still consistency: it was the referee’s judgment, his call, and he was sincere in making it. You could disagree, but at least you understood. This is nonsensical.
Hockey has a foot fault rule which, when first witnessed, appears harsh. Pretty much, if the ball hits a player’s foot, it’s a foul and a free hit is awarded.
Even that law, 9.11, however, contains a caveat. ‘It is not always an offence if the ball hits the foot, hand or body of a field player. The player only commits an offence if they gain an advantage or if they position themselves with the intention of stopping the ball in this way.’
In practice? Everyone very quickly learns to adjust their feet, and good players are very skilled at winning free hits. To a football person watching, then, hockey seems draconian because there is so little room for accident or misadventure.
Yet that’s OK because it’s hockey. And those are necessary rules. If umpires were not so hot on ball to foot, everyone would be getting away with casual infringements all game and the sport would be ruined.
Yet that was not the problem with football. There has not been a spate of handballs in recent years, outfield players picking it up, running with it, bouncing it, patting it into touch, punching it out at corners.
Television replays have picked up the odd outlier, like the Boly goal, that could have been righted with minimal impact. Instead the rulemakers elected to fix what did not need fixing and, in doing so, changed the sport.
Last season, fans watched on average 0.24 penalties a game. That figure has now trebled. Yet more goals do not equate to more fun. No mere rule change should make a sport unrecognisable to its constituency.
REFEREES MUST BE BOLD ENOUGH TO ACT ON FINDINGS – OTHERWISE VAR IS DOING HALF THE JOB
At Brighton on Saturday, video technology worked. It was a penalty for Manchester United from the last attack of the game, it was not a penalty for Brighton either of the times Aaron Connolly went to ground.
The failing, sadly, was human. Chris Kavanagh, the referee, should have sent Connolly off.
The first time he fell, he ensured contact with Paul Pogba by holding him and then collapsed in an entirely unnatural way. Both Connolly’s legs went from underneath as if he had been chopped.
Kavanagh gave the penalty, but was advised to take a second look by Simon Hooper, the VAR. He even steered him on what to look at. Kavanagh reversed his decision, rescinded Pogba’s booking but — crucially — did not discipline Connolly for cheating. So he tried it on again.
That time Kavanagh was wise to him and unconvinced, but that should have been Connolly’s second yellow card — although maybe if the official had done his job first time, it would not have been needed.
And that is another problem with VAR. If referees are not bold enough to act on the findings, it is doing half the job.
WHY AREN’T CASH RICH PFA HELPING TO PAY FOR TESTING IN LOWER LEAGUES?
The Professional Footballers’ Association could pay for every club in Leagues One and Two to be tested for Covid-19 each week for the next five years, maybe as many as 10, and not run out of money. Nobody is suggesting they should but they could do a lot more this season.
Sitting on reserves of £55million, with chief executive Gordon Taylor earning £2m and his organisation so financially secure there has been no talk of pay cuts, redundancies or furlough during the pandemic, the idea that the PFA could aid both its members and their clubs by paying for weekly health checks was first floated by Sunderland chief executive Jim Rodwell last May, as a way to avoid curtailing the season, and met with a deafening silence.
League One ended prematurely with Sunderland narrowly outside the play-off places.
Now the new season has begun, and the PFA remains aloof from its members with games being lost at significant cost.
Some lower division clubs playing in the Carabao Cup have refused offers from Premier League opponents to have tests — perhaps for fear of what might be found — jeopardising the security of the famous ‘red zone’ area at grounds. What union would stand idle with its members, and their families, at risk like that?
Phil Wallace, chairman of League Two Stevenage, summed it up. ‘I paid out £3,500 for tests to ensure the welfare of our players for a few days, at a time when our club is scrambling for every pound,’ he said.
‘If the PFA’s main role is the welfare of its members, one might wonder why they are not paying for these tests.
‘If testing costs can be driven down so that a squad and management costs less than £2,000, testing the whole of League One and Two weekly during the season will see them with well over £50m left.’
And the PFA do good work with their money, few would deny that, but these are exceptional times.
Taylor cannot stand apart, pontificating about the way the clubs conduct business — remember his ‘£20m is welcome but we believe it could be far bigger’ sneer at the Premier League’s charitable donation during the early weeks of the pandemic — without acknowledgement of who also owes a responsibility to footballers.
On issues such as head trauma and abuse, when the PFA should have been in the vanguard, it has been slow to react. It seems perfectly placed for arcane us-and-them battles with club owners, Taylor the shop steward, but it is sluggish when faced with newer challenges.
Taylor is ideal for a row over who should pay for Covid testing, but deaf to the idea that sitting on £55m of his members’ money and in the middle of global health and economic crisis, it could be him.
NO ROOM FOR ERROR AFTER THIAGO SILVA MISTAKE COSTS CHELSEA POINTS
It was a brutal introduction to the Premier League for Thiago Silva, but at least he knows the standard now. It is tighter.
His mistake contributed to Chelsea dropping two points to West Bromwich Albion when, against a similar team in Ligue 1, a single mistake will not do that.
While making no presumptions about West Brom’s fate, across the last three seasons, in games against the eventual bottom three, Paris Saint-Germain have scored 61 goals at an average of 3.81 a match.
In equivalent fixtures, Chelsea usually win — failing to beat Bournemouth home or away last season was an anomaly — but not as emphatically.
Indeed, seven of their 16 victories against bottom three teams since 2017-18 have been by the margin of a single goal. There simply is not the same room for error.
Real Madrid have announced the 23-man squad for Wednesday night’s match at home to Real Valladolid, which includes the return of Eden Hazard, Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez.
This is the first time this season that these three players have been included in Zinedine Zidane’s squad list, having missed the first two games of the campaign away at Real Sociedad and Real Betis.
As expected, Eder Militao has not recovered in time to be included, while Toni Kroos misses out due to injury and Mariano Diaz is still recuperating from a tonsillitis operation.
The Real Madrid squad is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois, Andriy Lunin, Diego Altube.
Juanma Rodriguez, a well-known Spanish football journalist, was in the crosshairs of Iker Casillas after posting about some comments made by the former Real Madrid goalkeeper, which he still backs today.
The comments related to when the 39-year-old was dropped by Vicente del Bosque and Jose Mourinho at different times during his Real Madrid career.
“Casillas says that him being benched with Del Bosque was sporting and him being benched with Mourinho was personal,” Juanma tweeted.
“He forgot to say that Del Bosque was fed up by the end, that [Casillas] did not accept his bench role.
“And that, for personal [reasons], the little campaign of some of his journalist friends against Mou.”
The former Spain goalkeeper then opted to respond to Juanma’s post.
“Can anyone tell me who this gentleman is?” Casillas tweeted, quoting the original tweet.
“I don’t have the pleasure of meeting him in person, but I can see that he thinks the world of me.”
Gerard Pique even chimed in.
“Gargamel,” he responded, a fictional character from The Smurfs that the Barcelona defender believes bears a resemblance to the journalist.
Speaking on Monday night, Juanma looked to clear up the situation.
“Casillas probably doesn’t know who I am, but he doesn’t have to attack the person… but argue a response against what I say,” he said on Radio MARCA.
“I think that Casillas is not worth it. At no time did I disrespect him.
“There is no one in Real Madrid above the badge, not even Casillas.
There was a section of sports journalism that organised a campaign against Mourinho when he benched Casillas.
“It is significant that Pique came out to defend Casillas and not other Real Madrid legends…”
Finally, Juanma also gave his thoughts on the Catalan defender’s response to Casillas’ post.
“I don’t take into account Gerard Pique’s lack of respect because he gives what he gives, but with all that has happened in his club and he has been silent, let him speak, this happens…,” he responded.
Roy Keane has bluntly stated Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will lose his job if the Red Devils fail to finish in the Premier League top four this season.
United won their first league game of the new campaign on Saturday, via a Bruno Fernandes penalty in second-half stoppage-time against Brighton in an enthralling encounter at the AMEX Stadium.
However, that somewhat fortuitous late victory came after a 3-1 opening defeat against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford and though the season is just two weeks old, former club captain Keane told Sky Sports he is already concerned with the start United have made.
When asked if Solskjaer would be sacked if he didn’t finish in the top four, Keane said: ‘Yeah I think so. Obviously if you’re manager of Man Utd, obviously if they can invest in the next week if they can buy one or two…
‘If they don’t invest in the next week, it’s tough days ahead for United.’
United’s only major purchase so far this summer was Donny van de Beek for £40million from Ajax, having so far missed out on top target Jadon Sancho.
However, following their third-placed finish and Champions League qualification last season, Keane insisted Solskjaer’s side this time have to be closer to Liverpool and Manchester City in the table.
‘I think the remit will be different for Ole this year. Obviously last year they would be saying top four. I think it’ll be higher this year, they certainly have to get closer to Liverpool and Man City,’ Keane stated on Monday Night Football.
‘The points total cannot be the same as it has over the last three or four years. I think Ole will have to get his hands on a trophy – the honeymoon period is certainly over for Ole.
‘The pressure starts to mount now, particularly with performances like they’ve had over the last week or so.’
United play Brighton on the south coast again on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup fourth round, before hosting Tottenham on Sunday afternoon in the Premier League.
‘[It’s] not been great. I think they would have been pleased with the result against Brighton but worrying signs already in the first week,’ Keane said.
‘I know it’s early days but they’re giving up a lot of goals and a lot of chances against Palace and Brighton so signs aren’t great
Pep Guardiola has spent around 450m euros in defenders since his appointment as Manchester City coach.
The Sky Blues have paid more than 100m euros to sign two centre-backs in the current transfer market.
Nathan Ake arrived from Bournemouth in exchange for 45.3m euros, while Ruben Dias joined from Benfica for 68m euros plus 3.6m euros in bonuses.
Nicolas Otamendi moved to the Portuguese side who spent 15m euros on the Argentine, while back in June Manchester City also signed Yan Couto for 6m euros before loaning him out to Girona.
Meanwhile, Dias has become the fourth most expensive signing in the current transfer window after Kai Havertz (80m euros), Arthur Melo (72m euros) and Victor Osimhen (70m euros).
Guardiola’s style of football is especially demanding on the men at the back, as the defence has been Manchester City Achilles heel in the last few months.
In his first season at the Blues, the Catalan coach signed John Stones for 55.6m euros, according to Transfermarkt, and Oleksandr Zinchenko, for 2m euros.
A new defence
In 2017/18, Manchester City spent as much as 205m euros on defenders, signing one centre-back in Aymeric Laporte (65m euros), a left-back in Benjamin Mendy (57.5m euros) and two right-backs in Kyle Walker (52.7m euros) and Danilo (30m euros).
In addition, that year they also signed a goalkeeper in Ederson (40m euros), despite having spent 18m euros the previous campaign for Claudio Bravo.
In 2018/19 they invested just 2.5m euros to sign Philippe Sandler from PEC Zwolle, while last season they acquired the services of Joao Cancelo for 65m euros as Danilo joined Juventus for 37m euros.
They also signed the likes of Angelino and Pedro Porro for 12m euros apiece, although both have subsequently been offloaded.
During Guardiola’s spell at the Etihad, he has also seen several defenders depart the club including Bacary Sagna, Vincent Kompany, Otamendi, Gael Clichy, Eliaquim Mangala, Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov and Fabian Delph.
Serie B side Monza have officially signed Kevin-Prince Boateng from Fiorentina, reuniting him with ex-Milan leaders Silvio Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani.
After 30 years at Milan, President Berlusconi and his trusty CEO Galliani are building a new football dynasty at Monza, earning promotion from Serie C last term.
They are out-spending everyone in Serie B already, including the arrival of Boateng, who passed his medical today.
A statement confirms the Ghanaian signed a contract to June 2021, with option to extend for another year.
Boateng is the 11th new signing of this season for Monza and already played for the likes of Milan, Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona in his long career.
He’s also reunited with former Milan coach Cristian Brocchi, who is now at the helm for Monza.
Watch Serie A live in the UK on Premier Sports for just £9.99 per month including live LaLiga, Eredivisie, Scottish Cup Football and more. Visit: https://www.premiersports.com/subscribenow
In the latest edition of Ref Watch, former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher assesses yet more handball controversy around the Premier League…
Dermot joined Rob Wotton on Sky Sports News to review the big decisions…
Tottenham 1-1 Newcastle
INCIDENT: Newcastle were awarded an injury-time penalty out of nowhere as, after checking the pitchside monitor, referee Peter Bankes adjudged Eric Dier had handled in the area – a decision which saw Jose Mourinho storm out of the dugout and down the tunnel.
VERDICT: What I want to emphasise here is there has been so much aimed at the referees over the weekend, Eric Dier becomes a victim of the law here because he has his back to the ball, his arms are raised, he does not know he is going to do it.
But Peter Bankes and Kevin Friend at Crystal Palace are equally victims because they have to apply that law and it is stated that if the hand is above the shoulder, the head, it is going to be penalised.
Well, that was clearly above the shoulder, it was accidental I know, but there is no caveat in there to say accidental handball is no longer punishable. So unfortunately, however you cut it, the referee had no choice but to give a penalty.
Carra: Handball rule a disgrace
Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher:
“It’s an absolute disgrace. An absolute joke.
“Newcastle fans will be ecstatic, I can understand that but everyone else in this country will say exactly what I’m saying.
“Eric Dier jumps for the ball, has no control of where his arms are going to be, it was a header half a yard away from him, hits him on the back of his arm, he has no idea what’s going on. This is a joke.
“Whether it’s the Premier League, the FA, FIFA, Pierluigi Collina, whoever is involved in this, stop it, because you’re ruining football for everybody. Absolute joke.
“You’ve got more trouble on your hands Premier League, FIFA, UEFA, whoever is involved. Change this now!”
Neville certain interpretation of rule will change
Sky Sports’ Gary Neville:
I thought it last weekend with the Manchester United, the week before with the Leeds one at Anfield… it’s an absolute disgrace. I’m absolutely certain that rule is going to change in the next couple of weeks, in the sense of the interpretation of the rule. There’s no way players, managers, coaches are going to accept that. It is not right.
I’ve been there as a defender, you have to have your arms [out by your side], you have to be balanced. Your arms have to be extended away from your body, they have to be. It’s absolutely impossible.
I actually don’t think they’re even interpreting the rule right. If you read it, I don’t think it’s that stringent that they have to apply it in that way. For me, this will change. There have been numerous occasions in the last 10-15 years where little things have come in and they’ve been thrown away quite quickly, and it will be thrown away, this one.”
Crystal Palace 1-2 Everton
INCIDENT: Joel Ward – making his 250th appearance for Crystal Palace – was the subject of two VAR handball checks. For the first, Ward was under scrutiny for the first time, but he was not penalised for a Richarlison cross hitting his arm on this occasion with it firmly by his side.
VERDICT: Ward has clearly got his arms tucked into his side when Richarlison’s strike hits him. He couldn’t get his arm in any closer. It’s almost behind his back which, as a defender, it’s not the ideal position to be in. But he clearly wanted to get his arm out of the way, there’s no doubt about that.
INCIDENT: The Crystal Palace defender was not able to avoid a second check. On the second occasion, he was judged to have handled Lucas Digne’s header inside the area after the ball hit his wrist, with Richarlison scoring the resulting penalty.
VERDICT: The second one is a little bit different. His arm is slightly extended and this is where I feel for the referees.
I use the word victim, which sounds very powerful, but they have to impose this law whether they like it or not. I say like it or not because I go back to when I was a referee and there were certain things I didn’t like, and I’m sure many of the referees, if not all of them don’t like this thing that if the arm is slightly extended, it’s going to be a penalty. But, as a referee, the unfortunate thing is you cannot pick and choose which laws you apply. You have to apply them across the board.
When Kevin Friend sees that image on the monitor, the arm is away from the body and that’s what they are told. Is the arm above the shoulder? No. Is the arm extended away from the body? Everybody will say that’s his balance position and I accept that, but that’s how the law is constructed. That’s where the referees are hamstrung because that’s what the law says and they have to follow it.
West Brom 3-3 Chelsea
INCIDENT: Mason Mount’s low effort from inside the box was parried by goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, handing the ball on a plate to Tammy Abraham to pounce from a few yards out. There was a big shout from West Brom for handball by Kai Havertz in the build-up to the last gasp equaliser, but because the German didn’t make the immediate assist, the goal wasn’t ruled out.
VERDICT: The minute that happened last year, the goal would have been looked at and disallowed. It hits Havertz on the arm quite accidentally, gets cleared by a defender, runs across the box, comes to a different player and it does not set up an immediate goalscoring opportunity. What it does, it goes between players, so therefore they are allowed to continue playing and the goal is scored. But it does show that there was some sympathy with what happened last year.
Brighton 2-3 Manchester United
INCIDENT: In a remarkable ending at the Amex Stadium, a melee of players from both teams engulfed referee Kavanagh as he headed to the pitchside monitor for a second look at Maupay’s handball.
Despite already blowing the full-time whistle, play was pulled back to award United the penalty and Fernandes held his nerve while others were losing their heads around him to seal United’s first win of the season.
VERDICT: I think everyone seeing this will say that not only is his arm above the shoulder, he has actually put it towards the ball. Why, he only knows. When the referee whistles, I think the full back on the line was fearing he had handled the ball, rather than headed it clear.
But the VAR quite clearly shows that Maupay has handled the ball and it was a penalty.
INCIDENT: Neil Maupay’s stunning chipped penalty down the centre of the goal punished Bruno Fernandes’ rash challenge on the lively Tariq Lamptey in the area.
VERDICT: In this situation, Bruno Fernandes has to get the ball. The one thing you can be sure of is Fernandes doesn’t get the ball because Lamptey moves it away and the midfielder catches his heel. In that situation you are always going to give a penalty. If you don’t get the ball and you get the man, it’s going to be a foul every time.
INCIDENT: Aaron Connolly was bundled to ground in the box by Paul Pogba, but referee Chris Kavanagh found it was the Brighton striker who initiated the contact when reviewing at the pitchside monitor.
VERDICT: This is very interesting. I watched this game. From the referee’s angle, I think every referee would give a penalty. However, you see the angle from behind the goal, which the VAR studied to recommend for the referee to go and have a look at the screen, and you quite clearly see that one, the ball is going to the left and Connolly is going to the right, and two, that he brings his leg back and initiates contact. It’s not a penalty for me and this was a really good process between the referee and VAR to get the right decision.
Manchester City 2-5 Leicester
INCIDENTS: Kyle Walker brings down Jamie Vardy for Leicester’s first penalty, before Eric Garcia pushes the same player over and then James Maddison is pulled back by Benjamin Mendy for the Foxes’ third spot-kick of the game, with referee Michael Oliver awarding all three.
VERDICTS: I think all three are penalties, he [Walker] quite clearly grabs him [Vardy], it is a penalty.
He [Vardy] does run in front of him [Garcia], but he does give him a push, he has his elbow planted in his back, he knows he has done it, he has pushed him in the back.
Again, he [Mendy] pulls him [Maddison] back. The referee does well, he got all three right.
Burnley 0-1 Southampton
INCIDENT: Burnley were appealing for a penalty in the 26th minute when Chris Wood went down under pressure from Jan Bednarek, but a free-kick went the other way for handball after a VAR check, much to the bemusement of Sean Dyche on the sidelines.
VERDICT: There’s a slight touch but it wouldn’t make me go down like that and it shouldn’t make Wood go down like that. No penalty.
West Ham 4-0 Wolves
INCIDENT: Referee Martin Atkinson allowed Pablo Fornals to take a quick free-kick near the centre circle, and he swept the ball into Jarrod Bowen’s path. The forward then curled the ball low around Romain Saiss as the Wolves defence closed in and found the back of the net.
VERDICT: I’m not sure the ball was moving. We studied it yesterday, whether the ball had stopped or whether it was a few yards ahead. Here, the referee is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t because it’s such quick thinking and it results in such a good goal, if he’d gone back we’d be talking about him potentially spoiling the game. In that instance, the referee has decided that’s within the boundaries of acceptability and he’s given a goal.
Frank Lampard has defended Kepa Arrizabalaga from “unfair” criticism just days after dropping the goalkeeper from his Chelsea team for a third time.
Kepa’s place was given to Willy Caballero for Chelsea’s trip to West Brom on Saturday – which ended in a 3-3 draw – following costly mistakes in the Blues’ first two Premier League games of the season.
Lampard previously replaced Kepa in favour of Caballero for a run of games in February, as well as for their final three games of the 2019/20 season.
Chelsea also signed goalkeeper Edouard Mendy – who could make his debut in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup tie away to Tottenham, live on Sky Sports – from Rennes last week, leading to suggestions Kepa may have played his last game for the club.
However, Lampard was keen to defend the 25-year-old, saying: “I certainly won’t go to the point of saying he’s played his last game for Chelsea.
“I think it’s been a difficult time for Kepa – I know it and he knows it. But we should certainly not jump to that conclusion.
“Also – and I felt quite strongly about this – we should understand that Kepa is a young man. A lot of the spotlight on him I think has become slightly unfair.
“I have to protect him because I know he’s a good lad, playing with absolute professionalism and trying to do the best he can.”
‘West Brom result not a reality check’
Lampard saw his Chelsea team concede three times inside the first half-hour of the game during their draw at West Brom, but insists that should not serve as a “reality check”.
Individual defensive errors helped the Baggies to a 3-0 lead but Lampard – who has signed seven new players during the window – says he believes his side need more time to work together.
He explained: “It wasn’t a reality check for me. It may be for some on the outside. We should have won the game and would have won the game without individual errors.
“In terms of our performance so far, it’s clear – we have new players in, some who haven’t even taken part yet because of injuries. So we haven’t had time to train as a group.
“I’m very confident that the more that we work, we will improve. Any Premier League game is going to give you big challenges, and West Brom gave us a challenge.”
Lampard adds to calls for handball changes
The most recent round of Premier League fixtures saw yet more controversial refereeing decisions made in line with the new handball laws.
Steve Bruce – whose Newcastle side earned a point at Tottenham thanks to a late penalty given against Eric Dier for handball – said the changes were “nonsense”, while Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson shared Bruce’s view.
“I agree with both Steve Bruce and Roy Hodgson,” Lampard said. “They’ve been in this game longer than myself, but we’re all in this game and we all understand that when people jump in the box, your arms will naturally move.
“It’s always been a difficult rule, maybe with a bit of a grey area. But in idea of trying to find some clarity, we’ve actually gone the other way and made it something that just doesn’t feel right at all. I’d like to think something can be done to change it.”
New Chelsea signings Edouard Mendy and Ben Chilwell are available to start against Tottenham on Tuesday night.
Frank Lampard has revealed that the goalkeeper signed from Rennes is ready to take up a spot in the starting line-up but did not confirm if he would make his debut in the EFL Cup derby clash.
The manager has been hearted by the way his new £22m stopper has settled in and trained so far.
And Ben Chilwell, who joined the Stamford Bridge club from Leicester for £50m is also available for his full debut having come off the bench against West Brom in the 3-3 draw on Saturday.
In other team news ahead of the Carabao Cup clash against his former boss Jose Mourinho, Lampard admitted new signing Hakim Ziyech and winger Christian Pulisic will not be involved.
Neither player is far away from contention but the game comes too soon in their return to full fitness.
Lampard and Co will be desperate to get back to winning ways after dropping further points at the weekend.
The Blues were rattled as they went 3-0 down against Slaven Bilic’s side at the Hawthorns but showed character to come back and grab a point late on through Tammy Abraham.
Lampard said: ‘They were clear individual mistakes, you can’t hide from them. The players held their hands up. We have to take it on the chin. The positive we got a point from that position, but of course we wanted more.’
MASH THE WRITER 