Former Premier League referee’s verdict on three incidents in Newcastle United’s win vs Chelsea

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has delivered his verdict on three incidents from Newcastle United’s 1-0 win over Chelsea.

The Magpies remained third in the top-flight table after Joe Willock’s 67th-minute goal secured a fifth straight win and extended the unbeaten run to 10 matches.

As a result, Eddie Howe’s side opened up an early nine-point gap on Chelsea and inflicted a third successive defeat on Graham Potter, who is already under pressure after recently succeeding Thomas Tuchel.

Tempers began to flare in the closing stages as the Blues pushed for an equaliser, with six yellow cards dished out in total.

Indeed, Jamaal Lascelles was one of the players to be booked despite not being on the pitch. The Newcastle captain was penalised for preventing Marc Cucurella from taking his throw-in.

“As this game came towards its conclusion, it got very, very feisty,” Gallagher told Sky Sports’ Ref Watch. “They were hanging on Newcastle and he (Jamaal Lascelles) is trying to delay the restart. You’ve got to be two metres from the throw-in anyhow

“He was doing everything to stop that throw-in so I think Rob Jones had no choice there but to yellow card him for delaying the restart. But that was one incident in what was a multitude of incidents, it even spiraled out after the game.”

Dan Burn and Kai Havertz had words when the full-time whistle was blown, which sparked a brawl between both sets of players. Gallagher hinted at further action for both clubs should the FA decide to review the footage.

“What I would say is stand back, monitor and don’t get involved,” Gallagher said. “The worse thing to do is step in between two players. If one player throws a punch and another player catches you in the face, you’ve escalated the problem.

“In situations like this, you and the assistant have to keep a record of what you see and throw the video to the FA to see what happens.”

The first half was pretty uneventful, although Newcastle did have a penalty appeal waved away in stoppage when Burn’s low cross hit Nathaniel Chalobah’s arm. Neither referee Rob Jones or VAR thought it was a spot-kick, and Gallagher agreed.

He said: “Covered in law, we saw this a few times last season. He’s sliding in, his arm is on the floor supporting his body, the ball does strike it but he can’t suddenly lift his arm, it’s impossible.”