Arsenal vs Brighton ref watch: Three decisions John Brooks got wrong
John Brooks had a relatively quiet game as Arsenal beat Brighton 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday.
Martin Odegaard gave the Gunners the lead and Georginio Rutter‘s own-goal doubled it before Diego Gomez got one back for the visitors.
The same could not be said last week, when Brooks faced several key decisions in Liverpool’s win over Tottenham.
Cristian Romero was sent off for dissent against Liverpool, after the Tottenham captain got in the referee’s face to argue a decision.
Brooks was criticised for failing to send Xavi Simons off after his challenge on Virgil van Dijk, with the video assistant referee asking him to review it.
John Brooks fails to book Viktor Gyokeres
Brooks was keen to keep his cards in his pockets in the early stages of Saturday’s game, but he likely should have produced a yellow one in the 22nd minute.
Brighton had broken through Arsenal‘s press, and Ferdi Kadioglu led a breakaway that saw him bearing down on the back-four.
Viktor Gyokeres was tracking back, and attempted to use his shoulder to nudge the Turkey international off the ball.
The Brighton man had already knocked the ball away, however and was taken down by the Swede.
The incident appeared to be an obvious chance for Brooks to produce his yellow card, but he instead just gave the striker a talking-to, much to the frustration of the visitors.
Diego Gomez gets away with kicking the ball away
It was this very same fixture last season that prompted a huge discussion about the rules.
Premier League referees had been given direction to book players for kicking the ball away, and Declan Rice found himself sent off for nudging the ball before he was booted by Joel Veltman.
For much of the latter stages of the season, however, the new direction appeared to have been forgotten, and it has almost totally been thrown out of the window in this campaign.
Gomez provided a perfect example when, in the 28th minute, he poked the ball past David Raya despite the whistle having already gone for his foul on William Saliba.
Arsenal complained, but Brooks decided against handing the forward a yellow card.
Brooks may reconsider Bart Verbruggen yellow
The biggest moment of the game, from a referee’s perspective, came right at the end of the first half.
Gyokeres was running onto a long ball, and just got a touch on the ball to take it past the oncoming Bart Verbruggen.
Much of the immediate discussion centred around the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity. But the Swede had been right by the side of the pitch and would not have had a clear shot on goal.
Brooks immediately reached for his pocket and brought out a yellow card, with the video assistant referee confirming the decision.
But when watching the incident back, the referee may look more closely at the challenge itself. Verbruggen was late, and arrived with massive force.
Gyokeres was uninjured, but it was not, at all, an attractive challenge. On another day, with another referee, the Brighton goalkeeper may well have been dismissed for dangerous play.