Aston Villa’s defeat at Brighton saw two penalty calls – both going against the visitors. So do the Match of the Day pundits believe the referee got the decisions right?
Match of the Day pundits Danny Murphy and Ashley Williams have made a huge call after seeing Aston Villa beaten at Brighton to leave their Premier League top-four hopes still undecided.
Villa could have wrapped up Champions League qualification with victory at the Amex Stadium given the later Tottenham Hotspur defeat at Liverpool, but instead found themselves undone by two penalty calls – one given, one denied.
Villa boss Unai Emery pointed out what he regarded as refereeing inconsistencies after a spot-kick was not given for a collision between Morgan Rogers and Facundo Bounanotte in one 18-yard box, but then one awarded when Ezri Konsa challenged Simon Adingra in the final minutes of the game.
Seagulls forward Joao Pedro duly headed home the rebound after his 87th-minute penalty was saved by the unlucky Robin Olsen in the Villa goal.
Given the opportunity to analyse the two decisions on BBC’s Match of the Day 2, ex-Liverpool and Fulham midfielder Murphy was clear in his verdict. He told viewers: “There is contact from Konsa. But contact doesn’t mean it is always a penalty. I think it was soft. I feel for Villa because they had one of their own [penalty call] they didn’t get.
“Every time I see penalties where a player is able to put the foot down after he gets kicked on the same leg suggests to me that it is a bit soft, because once you have planted your foot you have got balance. But we see them giving it more or less every week.”
And going on to discuss the merits of Villa’s first-half penalty call involving a challenge on Morgan Rogers, Murphy added: “I think Emery is right. Both would be a little bit soft to me, but he’s right on the Villa one, I think it looked more of a penalty than the Brighton one.”
Former Swansea and Everton defender Williams had a different take on the spot kicks – he did not believe Brighton should have been given theirs, and delivered a similar verdict on the Rogers incident.
“I’ve watched this now maybe 12 times and I’m not sure,” he said. “As you can see, the knees clash and Rogers goes down, but I don’t think there is enough in that for there to be a penalty, so I can see why Unai Emery is a little frustrated with the actual Brighton penalty. For me, they are both not penalties.”
