Referee Chris Kavanagh and assistant Nick Greenhalgh have not been appointed to a Premier League match this weekend after controversial decisions in the FA Cup tie between Aston Villa and Newcastle United.
The officials were criticised for several mistakes, including missing an offside in the build-up to Villa’s first goal and awarding a free-kick instead of a penalty for a handball by Lucas Digne. Newcastle scored from that free-kick to equalise. There was no VAR in use as it only comes into play from the fifth round.
Referees’ body PGMO selects officials based on performance reviews, and the pair have been left off this weekend’s fixtures following the backlash.
