Dermot Gallagher’s verdict on two refereeing calls during Chelsea 0-1 Newcastle

Referee Paul Tierney was literally the centre of attention when Chelsea hosted Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

The whistler put himself in the middle of Chelsea’s pre-game huddle on the centre spot, courting plenty of controversy. That incident was discussed on Sky Sports News’ Ref Watch segment before any of the actual decisions were looked at.

There were two penalty shouts during our vital 1-0 win, one for each team, and neither was given. As Newcastle fans, we obviously believe one call was right, and one was wrong, although I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that in this case!

Newcastle were denied a penalty when Malick Thiaw was wrestled to the floor in the box during a corner, while Chelsea felt they deserved a penalty for a challenge on Cole Palmer by Nick Woltemade.

Gallagher disagrees with Rosenior

Only Liam Rosenior seemed to think that Palmer should have had a penalty, but he was adamant enough for everyone. Unfortunately for Rosenior, ex-referee Dermot Gallagher told Sky Sports News that the referee made the right call.

“I don’t think it is a foul. Cole Palmer stands on Woltemade’s foot.

“He has his foot planted, so there is no way he is going to foul him.”

Newcastle denied clear penalty?

Things get worse for the Chelsea manager, as Gallagher feels Chelsea were lucky to get away with one after Reece James held Malick Thiaw during a corner with his back to the ball.

“If you are not looking at the ball, you are taking a massive risk – there is no way he can ever say, ‘I am trying to look at the ball.’

“He is not trying to fend off a defender, he does not know where the ball is and the ball is the clue.”

We still don’t fully understand why VAR looked at that incident and cleared it, knowing that we have seen those fouls given plenty of times already this season.

Thankfully, it didn’t cost us, and the lads dug deep to see out a precious three points and welcome clean sheet, sending us up to 9th and into Barcelona on a high after back-to-back league wins.