Home win with Oliver long overdue
When Michael Oliver blows his whistle to start tonight’s game we can only hope that his current Turf Moor run of six consecutive away wins, that kicked off with tonight’s opponents Tottenham Hotspur beating us 3-0 in December 2017, will be coming to an end.
He got things wrong in my view that day. Rather than winning a penalty that led to Harry Kane giving Spurs the lead, he should have been showing Dele Alli a second yellow card for simulation. I don’t think we can point too many fingers at him though for the subsequent five home defeats.
Oliver has refereed nine games to date this season. Four of them have been in the Nations and Champions Leagues with the other five in the Premier League. In those five games he’s shown thirteen yellow cards and one red card.
Seven of those yellow cards have gone the way of the home teams with six to the away teams while the one red card was a home team player. That red card came in his most recent domestic game when he dismissed Everton’s Richarlison at the end of the Merseyside derby against Liverpool.
I don’t think anyone will question that red card although there has been much debate as to whether Jordan Pickford should have been red carded for the incident that saw Virgil van Dijk suffer a likely season ending injury. I think the error there really was David Coote who was on VAR duty and no matter what PGMOL would like to tell us, it is clear that Coote just didn’t check it.
On the subject of VAR officials, it’s Craig Pawson tonight while Kevin Friend is again the fourth official having carried out those duties a week ago at West Brom. Pawson’s last Burnley game was some time ago. It came at Wolves in August of last year when he awarded them a stoppage time penalty, a decision that I still find it very difficult to agree with. Friend’s last Burnley game in the middle was the 2-0 win at Norwich in the penultimate game of last season, indeed still our most recent Premier League victory.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt & Simon Bennett
Fourth Official: Kevin Friend
VAR: Craig Pawson
AVAR: Adam Nunn
Previous Burnley Games – Michael Oliver
| Season | Opponents | V | Res | Y | R | Burnley Players Carded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007/08 | Scunthorpe | h | 2-0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2008/09 | Plymouth | h | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | Y: Eagles R: Eagles |
| 2008/09 | Swansea | h | 0-2 | 2 | 1 | Y: Elliott R: Duff |
| 2011/12 | Blackpool | h | 3-1 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2012/13 | Blackpool | h | 1-0 | 4 | 0 | Y: Mee, Paterson |
| 2013/14 | Blackpool | a | 1-0 | 5 | 0 | Y: Marney, Jones, Duff |
| 2014/15 | Chelsea | h | 1-3 | 2 | 0 | Y: Sordell |
| 2014/15 | Stoke | h | 0-0 | 3 | 0 | Y: Boyd |
| 2015/16 | Derby | h | 4-1 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2016/17 | Watford | a | 1-2 | 5 | 1 | R: Hendrick |
| 2017/18 | Crystal Palace | h | 1-0 | 2 | 0 | Y: Brady |
| 2017/18 | Tottenham | h | 0-3 | 3 | 0 | Y: Defour |
| 2017/18 | Crystal Palace | a | 0-1 | 3 | 0 | Y: Defour, Bardsley, Taylor |
| 2018/19 | Everton | h | 1-5 | 6 | 0 | Y: Lowton, Gibson |
| 2018/19 | Watford | a | 0-0 | 3 | 0 | Y: Mee, Bardsley |
| 2018/19 | Leicester | h | 1-2 | 2 | 1 | Y: Bardsley |
| 2019/20 | Brighton | a | 1-1 | 2 | 0 | Y: Lennon, Westwood |
| 2019/20 | Chelsea | h | 2-4 | 5 | 0 | Y: Hendrick, Pieters, Brady |
| 2019/20 | Aston Villa | h | 1-2 | 2 | 0 | Y: Tarkowski |
| 2019/20 | Norwich | h | 1-2 | 4 | 0 | Y: Long |
| 2019/20 | West Ham | a | 1-0 | 2 | 0 | Y: Tarkowski |
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