Crystal Palace fought back from 2-0 down to claim an impressive point at Manchester City on Saturday, but they may have felt aggrieved at one significant moment in the first half.
Palace went 2-0 down thanks to goals from Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis, but the hosts could have gone down to 10 men in the first half after goalkeeper Ederson fouled Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Mateta had found himself on the ball attacking the Man City box, when the Brazilian goalkeeper rushed out and slide-tackled him, without making contact with the ball.
Many have argued that Ederson should have seen red, as he was denying a goal-scoring opportunity as the last man, but journalist Dale Johnson has explained why he was only awarded a yellow card.
Ederson yellow card against Crystal Palace explained
Writing in a column for ESPN, Johnson explained that whilst Ederson can consider himself lucky to have stayed on the pitch, Mateta’s positioning meant that the card was not upgraded from a yellow to a red.
“This is a borderline call, and there’s an argument for a red card. Yet there’s enough doubt over a couple of clauses in the law for a caution to be considered an acceptable outcome,” he claimed.
“The touch by Mateta takes the ball in the general direction of the corner flag rather than the goal, while Ruben Dias was in close proximity to make a possible challenge. Ederson was out of his goal, but this alone doesn’t create a DOGSO (denial of a goal-scoring opportunity) situation.
“Without being brought down by Éderson there’s the possibility Mateta could hit it first time and score from a tight angle. Had the referee produced the red card it wouldn’t have been overturned. But the difficulty of the goal-scoring opportunity, coupled with the threshold for a VAR intervention, means the card wouldn’t be upgraded.”
Have Crystal Palace been unlucky with referee decisions?
Palace have performed well against Liverpool and Man City in back-to-back games, but have come away with one point.
Jordan Ayew was given a controversial red card against Liverpool, whilst this decision over Ederson could have denied Palace the chance to win.
If the referee had given a straight red card, VAR would not have overturned this decision. Whilst this was a tight, borderline call, it is another one which has gone against Palace in a big game, and this has been the difference between one point and a potential six.
If Palace find themselves in a relegation battle towards the end of the season, they may look back at these marginal moments with some frustration.
