Gabby Agbonlor accuses officials of ‘favouritism’ after Everton denied penalty vs Manchester City
Gabby Agbonlahor has accused Premier League officials of “favouritism” following the decision not to award Everton a penalty against Manchester City.
Visiting midfielder Rodri appeared to commit a clear handball late on in the 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park but referee Paul Tierney did not award a spot kick.
His view had been obstructed so the wide expectation was that the VAR would intervene, but video referee Chris Kavanagh ruled the evidence inconclusive without even referring the decision back for a pitch-side review by the on-field official.
Former Aston Villa forward Agbonlahor was outraged at the decision, comparing it to Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United being given the benefit of the doubt in previous years.
The pundit is shown in a clip on the talkSPORT Twitter page saying: “That incident reminds me of the favouritism that Manchester United used to get under Fergie.
“They used to get all the decisions. All the refs were on their side in the big moments of the game.
“Any neutral watching that game just then… it’s a penalty. Especially with the new rules now.
“It’s very sloppy from Rodri, but it’s a penalty. I think any other team apart from Manchester City would probably get that penalty given against them.
“If [Mason] Holgate had done that, or one of the center-halves for Everton, it would definitely be given as a penalty.”
Outrageous
Agbonlahor is probably speaking for thousands of football fans in suggesting the top teams are given favourable decisions.
It cannot be conclusively proven that they are, but teams coming up against the likes of Pep Guardiola’s table-toppers, like the Ferguson-lead United juggernaut of the first two decades of the Premier League, will be quite certain.
Quite how the league leaders escaped from Merseyside without having to face a late penalty and potentially an equaliser is pretty astounding.
The ‘t-shirt line’ rule that is currently in effect with regards to handball appears to have somehow rescued City.
But if that interpretation is going to be used to negate handballs where 90% of the contact is with the arm and just a small fraction makes contact with the sleeve then the authorities have created themselves a big problem.
For the decision to not even be sent back down to Tierney to view on the monitor was arguably the biggest issue from the whole incident.
The upshot is that the Toffees got nothing from the game, after Phil Foden capitalised on a Michael Keane error to score a late winner.
Frank Lampard told Sky Sports afterwards it was “incompetence at best” from the officials, and is left to rue a cruel decision potentially robbing his side of a valuable point in the fight against relegation.
In other Everton news, pundits have been queuing to poor scorn on the decision from Saturday’s game.