The derbies took centre stage in Gameweek 10 of the 2023-24 Premier League season in terms of excitement and controversy. The Manchester Derby saw one major, game-changing decision while two London derbies produced some debatable decisions as well.
Here are the most contentious decisions from this weekend.
The Incident: Rodri goes down in Manchester United’s box while attacking an in-swinging free-kick. Replays show Rasmus Hojlund was holding onto the Spaniard with one arm. (Man Utd 0-3 Man City).
Referee Paul Tierney let the game go on but was advised to stop play and review the incident on the pitchside monitor by the VAR. After taking a look at the sequence, Tierney overturned his initial decision, awarding Man City a penalty.
Verdict: By the letter of the law, the decision to award a penalty was the correct one. Hojlund’s contact definitely impeded Rodri enough, although the midfielder’s reaction sold it as well. This issue with the decision is the lack of consistency. Most often, holding in the box is ignored by the referee, so when decisions like this one are given it seems soft and unfair.
The Incident: Jordan Ayew controls a ball from the right and fires into the net. Replays show the ball struck Ayew on the arm. After a lengthy VAR check, the goal was given. (Crystal Palace 0-2 Tottenham)
What IFAB’s rules say: “It is an offence if a player scores in the opponents’ goal immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental”
Verdict: Per the letter of the law, the goal should have been disallowed. Stuart Attwell, who was on VAR duty, apparently could not find any angles that conclusively showed that the ball struck Ayew’s arm despite checking for about two and a half minutes.
The goal was hence disallowed. Images of the incident, however, show clearly that the ball did hit the arm of Jordan Ayew before he scored.
The Incident: Brentford’s Mads Roerslev barges into the back of Raheem Sterling inside his own box. Sterling goes down but no penalty is given. (Chelsea 0-2 Brentford)
Verdict: Should have been a penalty. Roerslev only had eyes for Sterling and not the ball when making that challenge. The Englishman might have gone down a bit theatrically but that does not negate the challenge that came before.
