Webster to sit out Foxes showdown
BAMFORD HITS A HUNDRED AS QUICKFIRE LEEDS BEAT PALACE
ADAM WEBSTER will miss Brighton’s FA Cup fifthround clash with Leicester tomorrow.
The 26-year-old centrehalf rolled his ankle in the 1-1 draw against Burnley on Saturday and will not be involved at the King Power Stadium.
Webster has been in superb form recently as Graham Potter’s side secured three straight clean sheets against
Ruled out:
Leeds, Tottenham and champions Liverpool.
‘Adam isn’t too bad. He has a bit of swelling,’ said Potter. ‘Wednesday is too soon and we’ll wait and see for Saturday.
‘We’ll know more over the next few days.’
Potter also confirmed that Solly March, who suffered a knee injury in the 1-0 win at Liverpool last week, is out for 12 weeks following surgery.
DEATH threats received by Mike Dean have prompted him to pull out of refereeing a Premier League game, and brought more calls for social media companies to act to stop online abuse.
Referees chief Mike Riley has backed the request of Dean to stand himself down from officiating at a top-flight game this weekend after he and his family received death threats online.
Dean, 52, had been involved in two controversial incidents and the threats have been reported to the police. He showed a red card to West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek for catching Aleksandar Mitrovic with his elbow late on during Saturday’s goalless draw at Fulham and also sent off Southampton defender Jan Bednarek in last week’s 9-0 defeat at Manchester United.
Both of the decisions – which followed the Wirral official reviewing each incident on the pitchside monitor after consulting VAR – have since been overturned following an appeal.
Dean will be in charge of tomorrow’s FA Cup fifth-round tie between Leicester and Brighton, but has asked not to be involved at the weekend.
The threats to Dean (below) come as numerous players have faced racist abuse on social media recently. A man was arrested yesterday in connection with what police called a ‘number of racist and hateful’ Twitter posts relating to Chelsea.
Premier League boss Richard Masters said: ‘It is inexcusable Mike Dean and his family received online abuse, including death threats, as a result of doing his job.
‘It is completely unacceptable that we are seeing abusive behaviour aimed at players, managers and officials regularly on social media. This again highlights the need for greater proactive intervention from social media companies.’
Soucek tweeted: ‘Whatever decisions are made on the pitch should stay on the pitch. I send Mike Dean and his family my support.’
GOALS from Jack Harrison and Patrick Bamford secured Leeds a 2-0 victory over lacklustre Crystal Palace last night and moved Marcelo Bielsa’s side into the top ten in the Premier League.
Leeds had been thrashed 4-1 by Palace at Selhurst Park in the reverse fixture in November but were ahead inside three minutes at Elland Road.
Palace lost possession, allowing Stuart Dallas to feed Harrison and his well-struck shot beat keeper Vicente Guaita after deflecting off defender Gary Cahill.
The hosts should have added to their lead before the break with Bamford firing wide when clean through, while towering defender Pascal Struijk twice wastefully headed off-target.
With Wilfried Zaha sidelined by a hamstring injury suffered in the victory at Newcastle last week, Palace handed a debut to on-loan striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, signed last month from Mainz.
But without their talisman the Eagles lacked inspiration going forward and in-form Bamford rolled in Leeds’ second, and his 100th career goal, on 52 minutes after Raphinha’s shot had been blocked by Guaita.
Palace did finally spark into life, with Andros Townsend firing straight at Illan Meslier who also saved Christian Benteke’s header but Leeds almost scored again with Harrison hitting the crossbar.