Lacazette was guilty of handball
Crystal Palace may have been awarded two penalties against Arsenal but they can feel hard done by because a refereeing error potentially cost them all three points. There is no question that Alexandre Lacazette used a hand to flick the ball on for Pierre-emerick Aubameyang to score, and I am very surprised that neither referee Martin Atkinson nor his assistants saw it.
The fact that such a clear incident was so badly missed put me in mind of a conversation I had with a Premier League assistant referee this week. He told me that assistant referees have been told not to flag for major decisions, such as the award of a penalty. Instead, they are meant to tell the referee what they have seen over their communications system, allowing the man in the middle to make the final decision.
I was really surprised to hear that, as I made clear when I introduced the communications system that it was not designed to take away any responsibility from assistant referees. I have always thought that if they believe a penalty should be awarded then they should flag immediately.
Now, I am not saying this definitely was the case at Selhurst Park, but I do wonder if we are marginalising assistant referees, so putting more and more pressure on the man with the whistle.
It is a tough enough job in any case, as we saw with Martin’s call to award Palace a second penalty for a foul by Granit Xhaka on Wilfried Zaha. If his decision to penalise Shkodran Mustafi for fouling Cheikhou Kouyate for Palace’s first penalty was a no-brainer, this was far more difficult.
I think it is a penalty – Xhaka clearly catches Zaha – but the Ivorian has a reputation for going down easily and that will have been in Martin’s mind. Thankfully, he made the right call – although Palace will still be upset he did not do so a little earlier.
Keith Hackett is a former referee and his ebook, “You are the Ref ”, is out now