Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey believes that Wolves were right to have a penalty awarded against them.
The incident occurred right at the start of the second half when Brighton forward Neal Maupay went down under the challenge of João Moutinho after a short driving run. And although Maupay went down a little theatrically, speaking exclusively to This Is Futbol, Halsey believes that there was enough contact to give the penalty, noting that the expression of Moutinho was also a big indicator:
“[The Wolves player’s] body language said it all. The attacker may have gone down a bit easy but he stuck a leg out there so no complaints from me. The referee made the right call, it was a clear penalty.”
Will Brighton stay up this season?
Yes
No
Wolves might feel somewhat aggrieved to find themselves in this situation, whilst Maupay may have ‘made the most of it’ in order to win the penalty, it wasn’t the smartest challenge to be making in the first place.
The rise that they have gone through under Nuno Espirito Santo, in our opinion, has been one of the more impressive feats in recent memory in English football, but something just isn’t sitting right at the moment, and costly mistakes like this are just one of the things holding them back.
From where they were last season, heading deep into the latter stages of the Europa League to currently sitting 13th in the Premier League, they need to sort themselves out and sharpish if they are to avoid making a serious drop-off this campaign.