Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has blasted some of the refereeing decisions involved in the 4-2 defeat against Manchester City.
Patrick Vieira’s side looked set to cause another huge upset at the Etihad Stadium after going two goals up against the Premier League champions after 21 minutes. Eberechi Eze provided both crosses that led to a John Stones own goal and a Joachim Andersen bullet header.
But the Citizens, after a frustrating first-half, turned it up another level in the second period. Bernardo Silva pulled a goal back and Erling Haaland would score a 19-minute hat-trick to secure all three points for the home side.
READ MORE: Gary Lineker and Jermaine Jenas disagree on Palace disallowed goal at Man City
However, there were two incidents in the first-half that could have made an impact on the result in Palace’s favour. First, Jordan Ayew had a goal disallowed on the half hour due to Odsonne Edouard’s attempt to block a throw out from City goalkeeper Ederson.
Palace didn’t protest much over the decision and Vieira admits he didn’t have a clear view of it at the time. But it was an incident that has certainly divided opinions, with many taking the view that the ball had left Ederson’s hands and therefore the goal should have stood.
Secondly, there is debate over whether Haaland should have remained on the pitch after a challenge on Andersen towards the end of the first-half. The Danish centre-back went down after Haaland’s high foot caught him on the back of the head, but no card was dealt to the Norwegian.
Parish commented on both incidents, tweeting: “Fair enough Man City played very well today in the second-half and congrats to them, but two big decisions went against us today – It’s very difficult to understand how this [Ayew’s goal] was disallowed – the ball has clearly left the keepers hand in the direction he wanted it to.”
Parish then commented on a screengrab of Haaland’s high foot on Andersen which was compared to Sadio Mane’s red card against Ederson at the Etihad in 2017. The former Liverpool winger recklessly jumped towards the City goalkeeper to win the ball, colliding with the Brazilian’s head with a high boot.
“This is the second one – not even a yellow,” Parish tweeted with a shrugging emoji. “No VAR checks as far as was communicated.”
Match of the Day host Gary Lineker and pundits Jermaine Jenas and Ian Wright also commented on both incidents, disagreeing over whether Ayew’s goal should have stood. Jenas believes Haaland should have at least been given a yellow card for the challenge on Andersen.
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