As Robbie Savage argued that Mateus Fernandes was lucky to stay on the pitch during West Ham United’s goalless first-half at Fulham, you’d have been forgiven for assuming the Welshman did not have the benefit of an instant replay.
After Axel Disasi had been drawn out of position, Fulham starlet Josh King charged towards the edge of Mads Hermansen’s penalty area.
Mateus Fernandes made a last-ditch attempt to halt King’s progress before he entered the box. A collision between the two players saw the West Ham United midfielder penalised for a foul right on the edge of the area despite the replay clearly showing that Fernandes had actually got to the ball first.
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Not only that, King actually kicked through the former Southampton ace. It wasn’t so much that Fernandes was lucky to stay on – he had already been booked in the opening 45 minutes – but that Fernandes was unfortunate not to see the decision go his way.
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One has to wonder what Robbie Savage was watching, then.
“Does he touch the ball, Fernandes? Does Josh King kick Fernandes? That’s the question?” Savage said on TNT Sports. The answer to both questions, by the way, is a resounding ‘yes’.
Still, the former Blackburn, Birmingham City and Derby County midfielder ploughed on.
“Did he stop a promising attack? By the law, I think that should be a second yellow.”
In a contentious first half, West Ham were denied a penalty when Alex Iwobi appeared to deflect Jarrod Bowen’s cross out with the top part of his arm.
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Veteran referee Mike Dean felt the Hammers were hard done by in that incident, while also hitting back at Savage’s assessment of the Fernandes incident.
“It is not a free kick,” Dean told Sky Sports. “The West Ham player has put his foot in front and the Fulham player has kicked the back of the West Ham player.
“Wrong decision.”
Not the first time referee Matt Donohue got it wrong in a first-half of few chances but plenty of flashpoints.
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