Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images
Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images
The Premier League finally returns this weekend, with Everton facing Hull City at the KC Stadium. With David Moyes unlikely to be pleased with the referee chosen to take charge.
Everton will be looking to continue an unbeaten start to the Premier League against the biggest surprise package of the season so far. It will be Everton against Hull, which also happens to be seventh against eighth, with the winner likely to end the weekend in the Champions League spots.
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Position Team Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Diff Points
5 5 2 3 0 7 3 4 9
7 5 2 3 0 6 3 3 9
8 5 2 2 1 6 4 2 8
9 5 2 2 1 9 9 0 8
Everton have drawn both away games this season, but against Hull City, a victory should be the ambition for David Moyes to continue this brilliant start. But he won’t be helped by the referee appointed to take charge.
The referee for Everton vs Hull City left David Moyes furious last season
The officiating levels in the Premier League are at a real low, with very little faith in the referees. But the man taking charge of Everton’s next game is one who has a history of poor officiating that has directly cost the Toffees.
The Premier League announced that the referee for the fixture will be Michael Salisbury, who was involved in an inconsistency last season that left David Moyes frustrated.
It was in a game that saw Everton lose 1-0 to Arsenal due to a Jake O’Brien handball that VAR awarded, with Salisbury the man on VAR that day. But the real decision of the debate was when William Saliba kicked Thierno Barry, and after review, VAR said, “the contact from Saliba on Barry wasn’t sufficient for a penalty.”
A similar foul was given by VAR as a penalty 48 hours later in another match between Fulham and Nottingham Forest, sparking fury from Moyes.
“I was half-choking last night when I saw the decision given, and ours wasn’t. It feels as though certain clubs get those decisions and other clubs don’t. We seem to be on the latter side of that.”
Moyes will surely therefore be entering this game with concerns over Salisbury as the referee, and it isn’t the only event.
Also last season, there were calls from former PGMOL chief, Keith Hackett, for Salisbury to be suspended after denying Everton a clear penalty after a handball, as he told Football Insider.
“This is handball. It’s so obvious. How else can anybody say that it’s not? I just shudder because the focus isn’t there.
“I’m not blaming the referee here because he hasn’t got the right view. He’s relying on two people – the assistant referee and VAR. “For VAR to say it’s not an offence is beyond me. This is wrong by VAR. We’re getting to the end of the season, and if it were me, he wouldn’t be appointed. His season is over.”
If Salisbury goes on to cost Everton again this weekend, serious questions need to be asked as to how he was allowed to officiate another Toffees game, and Moyes won’t be quiet in asking this.