Nottingham Forest suffered a 2-0 defeat against Everton in a game that was marred with controversy.
Forest were denied three penalties – all of them appeared to be very clear fouls.
The first penalty shout occurred when Danilo was advancing towards the Everton box, and he went down under Ashley Young’s challenge from behind. However, the referee waved play on after VAR reviewed the incident.
The second incident occurred in the first half’s closing stages when Hudson Odoi’s attempt struck Young’s outstretched arm. Once again, VAR cleared the incident without penalising Young.
It didn’t stop there, as Young made a desperate sliding tackle on Hudson-Odoi in the second half. Surprisingly, he was once again cleared by VAR.
Nottingham Forest hint at taking action against PGMOL after controversial defeat
The club’s official account on X very quickly took to social media to slam the decisions, labelling them as “extremely poor”.
They stated that they had warned PGMOL before the game that the VAR official in charge of the game is a Luton fan, yet they did not replace him.
The statement read:
“Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept.
We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times.
NFFC will now consider its options.”
Forest implied that the VAR official, being a Luton fan, didn’t influence the decisions in their favour, instead, the full-time result favoured the Hatters, who are just a point below them in the standings.
Some would say that their tweet may come across as unprofessional, but they are justified in calling out VAR for what they perceive as three instances of poor decision-making in a single game.
This is not the first instance of poor officiating this season with the PGMOL issuing apologies to Liverpool and Arsenal earlier this season after some questionable officiating cost them significant points.
Following the defeat, Nottingham Forest find themselves just one point clear of the relegation zone, occupying 17th place with 26 points, narrowly ahead of Luton Town by a single point.