‘Howard Webb to announce instant rule change after Nottingham Forest incident’
Howard Webb is facing increasing pressure following an incident in the Nottingham Forest game against Leicester City.
Forest were looking to get back to winning ways in their push for Champions League football against already-relegated Leicester on Sunday (11 May).
However, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were forced to settle for a point after the game ended 2-2 at the City Ground.
Morgan Gibbs-White and Chris Wood put Forest ahead after Conor Coady’s opener, but Facundo Buonanotte equalised with just nine minutes left on the clock to ensure the spoils were shared.
Forest remain seventh in the Premier League table, but they are just one point behind fifth-place Chelsea heading into the final two games of the campaign.
The East Midlands club will face Chelsea on the last day of the season at the City Ground, with five Champions League spots on offer to top-flight sides.
Evangelos Marinakis confronted Nottingham Forest chief
Following the conclusion of Forest’s draw against Leicester, the talk has been around Taiwo Awoniyi’s welfare rather than his side’s Champions League aspirations.
The Nigeria international collided with the post in the 88th minute as he attempted to get on the end of a cross from Anthony Elanga.
Elanga was clearly in an offside position when he picked up the ball, but the assistant referee didn’t raise their flag until after Awoniyi collided with the post.
The assistants are told to keep their flags down until the passage of play is completed when a goalscoring opportunity is about to occur.
Evangelos Marinakis was spotted remonstrating with Nuno on the pitch after the game following the decision to let the striker play the final few minutes at the City Ground.
It has since emerged Awoniyi is in an induced coma after undergoing surgery on a serious abdominal injury as a result of the collision, but he is in a stable condition.
| Oppenent | Result |
| Tottenham (A) | 2-1 (W) |
| Man City (N) | 2-0 (L) |
| Brentford (H) | 2-0 (L) |
| Crystal Palace (A) | 1-1 (D) |
| Leicester (H) | 2-2 (D) |
PGMOL under pressure after Nottingham Forest update
The whole incident could have been avoided if the assistant had the power to raise their flag and bring the phase of play to a halt.
The replays show Elanga was miles offside, so it would have been an easy decision for the official.
There has long been a feeling a serious injury would occur since the rules around assistants not raising their flags was brought into force.
PGMOL chief Webb is now under pressure to change the rules to ensure the risk of another similar injury happening again is minimised.
While it’s likely the rules will remain the same on tight offside calls, there is no reason why Webb can’t immediately instruct the assistants to raise their flags when it’s a clear offside.
Player welfare simply has to come first, and an avoidable incident like this shouldn’t be allowed to happen again.
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