Video ref overworked

THE video referee was overused during last night’s first leg between Arsenal and Chelsea. The officials were like kids at Christmas with a new toy — they just seemed to want to play with it. Martin Atkinson referred to the video referee four times but only on the last two occasions did I think it was relevant for him to do so. While the first two referrals were unnecessary, the third was worth a review — Victor Moses challenged Ainsley Maitland-Niles for a possible penalty. It looked like Moses caught Maitland-Niles’s boot, but when the video referee looked at it in slow motion, there wasn’t enough contact. It was not a clear and obvious error by Atkinson so his original decision stood. Atkinson was also correct to look at Danny Welbeck’s penalty-box challenge on Cesc Fabregas in the closing stages. It wasn’t a penalty but it was a good use of the video referee. They should be officiating as if there’s no technology. Last night I would question whether they did that.