Crystal Palace were harshly treated by Rob Jones during the 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth.
The 39-year-old was very quick to award the Cherries a penalty after Marco Senesi ran into Dean Henderson and seemingly took a dive. Many expected those in the VAR booth to amend the decision for Crystal Palace, but they bizarrely stuck by the call from Jones.
Now, the official Premier League Match Centre have released a statement on the incident, and it is absolutely laughable.
Premier League claim Rob Jones decision was “not clearly and obviously wrong”
Shortly after the incident, the Premier League Match Centre posted on X (previously known as Twitter): “The referee’s call of penalty to Bournemouth for a challenge by Henderson on Senesi was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that the referee’s call was not clearly and obviously wrong.”
Excuse me?
Senesi quite literally ran into Henderson and fell to the ground.
The Crystal Palace No.1 made no movement towards the Argentina international, and quite rightly, angrily let him know what he thought of the dive as he pathetically rolled around on the floor.
Putting this bizarre incident aside, it was an utterly woeful performance from the Eagles anyway, regardless of the fact five changes were made from the 3-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk.
Oliver Glasner – who Andoni Iraola could replace – looked absolutely furious on the sideline as his team performed like a bunch of strangers, with Brennan Johnson and Justin Devenny among the worst performers on a day where they ought to have been highly motivated to impress in a rare start.
Fortunately, one silver lining from the game is the fact Bournemouth have shoved Brighton down the Premier League table and put a dent in their European ambitions, a detail we will be using to cope with this utterly abject performance.
Play like this on Thursday against Shakhtar Donetsk, and our potential spot in the UEFA Conference League final will be in serious jeopardy.
