The referee and VAR may well have made a key mistake in Everton’s weekend clash when they failed to punish Idrissa Gueye when he looked to have given away a possible penalty.
Over the weekend, the Toffees travelled down to west London to take on Fulham at Craven Cottage in the Premier League. The game, however, failed to produce a single goal.
Indeed, Jordan Pickford had to make a number of good saves to ensure his side held on for a point.
Still, Everton can perhaps count themselves fortunate that their No 1 didn’t have to pull off any heroics by facing a penalty. Early on in the second half, the Whites’ Willian waltzed into the box only to be tripped by Gueye.
Referee John Brooks waved away any appeals and VAR decided that it wasn’t an obvious error to overturn his initial decision.
TIF Thoughts on the incident and Everton…
Upon seeing replays of the incident, there is certainly contact, as Gueye reaches for the ball but steps on Willian’s toe instead. Evidently, Brooks didn’t feel it was enough to warrant a spot-kick.
In Sky Sports’ live blog coverage of the game, the Everton man was labelled a ‘lucky boy’, while it was noted he ‘doesn’t seem to get much of the ball’.
Do you think it was a penalty?
Yes
No
Had this penalty been awarded, it could have been the decisive moment in the game. Aleksandar Mitrovic likely would have stepped up to take it, and while he has scored three spot-kicks this season, he has missed once – so perhaps Pickford would have fancied his chances of denying him from 12 yards (via Transfermarkt).
In the end, we’ll never know as the call, fortunately for the Toffees, went in their favour. Still, seeing as Mitrovic could have been sent off earlier in the game, perhaps it was fair that it evened out somewhat.