REF JUSTICE
It’s been another rough few days for Europe’s referees. On Saturday, Chris Kavanagh and his assistants had a night to forget at Villa Park without the comfort blanket of VAR. One poor decision is forgivable, two is careless, but there were a hat-trick of howlers, with Tammy Abraham clearly offside for Aston Villa’s opener. Lucas Digne needed his own dedicated review booth, escaping with a yellow card for an agricultural tackle on Jacob Murphy and avoiding a penalty for handball. Officials ruled that Digne handled the ball outside the penalty area, an impressive feat given that he both took off and landed inside the box as he jumped to block a cross. Kavanagh and one of his assistants have been stood down by PGMO, presumably rebranded because they can’t stop dropping Ls.
