2 weeks ago
1 There was confusion during Aston Villa’s 1-0 win at Wolves as the visitors were denied a penalty despite the ball striking Romain Saiss on the arm.
Both teams ended the game with ten men in a fiery Midlands derby which Villa nicked at the death thanks to a Anwar El Ghazi penalty, but up to that point it was a spot-kick that didn’t get given in the first-half which provided the main talking point.
Following numerous controversies in the Premier League earlier this season, the Premier League’s interpretation of handball has changed in recent weeks.
Mike Dean decided not to award a penalty to Villa for this incidentBT Sport
To prevent soft spot-kicks being awarded when the ball strikes a defender from point-blank range, officials are now urged to consider whether the arm is in an ‘expected’ position.
Initially, the decision at Molineux on Saturday appeared to be the correct one, as Wolves defender Saiss had little time to react and his arm was not in an unnatural position when the ball hit him from a Jacob Ramsey cross.
However, it later emerged that the Video Assistant Referee said, ‘No penalty, green zone’ when deciding against awarding a penalty.
This refers to guidelines given to referees to decide which area of the body constitutes handball, which you can see below:
BT Sport
It seems clear from the freeze frame of the Saiss incident that the ball struck the Wolves defender in the red zone.
Reacting to the decision on BT Sport, former Premier League referee Peter Walton describing the reasoning as ‘alarming’, although insisted it was the correct call not to award a penalty.
Saiss’ arm was indeed in an ‘expected position’, so it seems as though the right decision was made, but for the wrong reasons.
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