Officials at centre of Aston Villa vs Newcastle FA Cup controversy after one of the ‘worst ever decisions’ STOOD DOWN from Premier League this week

Referee Chris Kavanagh and his assistant Nick Greenhalgh have been stood down from Premier League duty this weekend after their involvement in several officiating blunders last week.

Kavanagh and Greenhalgh came under heavy scrutiny for a plethora of decisions they made during Newcastle’s 3-1 victory over Aston Villa in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday.

There was no VAR in action for the tie at Villa Park, meaning more pressure was put on the officials.

However, the pair subsequently missed a clear offside against Tammy Abraham for Villa’s opening goal. 

Things were about to get worse as Lucas Digne was lucky to avoid a red card for a challenge on Jacob Murphy despite recklessly flying in and catching the winger high.

On commentary, the BBC‘s Danny Murphy felt that if VAR was in operation, Digne would have been sent off. 

One decision saw Kavanagh give Newcastle a free kick despite Lucas Digne clearly handling the ball inside his own area 

Greenhalgh (left) failed to help Kavanagh come to the correct decisions at Villa Park

The Frenchman was involved again when Kavanagh somehow awarded a free kick when he handled the ball, despite the left back clearly being yards inside the box.

Newcastle equalised from the subsequent free kick, yet Dan Burn appeared to be in an offside position at the start of the move. 

Speaking on Match of the Day, Wayne Rooney was left baffled as he said: ‘That decision is one of the worst decisions I have ever seen in football because at no stage was Digne out of the penalty box.

‘He is three or four yards inside. The linesman is just in front of it and you can clearly see how much he is in the penalty box.

‘The referee looked like he blew and looked like he was listening to someone in his ear, so I’m assuming the linesman gave the decision, and it’s an absolute shocker.’

The PGMOL base their selections for Premier League games on several factors.

These include post-match performance assessments, which are conducted by an independent Key Match Incidents panel, something that helps to ensure officials are held to account for their decisions. 

Despite the furore, Kavanagh, 40, remains highly regarded as a referee after first officiating in the Premier League in April 2017.

He was appointed to FIFA’s international referees list in 2019, and back in December Kavanagh was promoted to the elite list of UEFA referees, joining fellow Premier League officials Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver. 

Gary Beswick, the other assistant at Villa Park, avoided much of the controversy, and he will be involved in Nottingham Forest’s clash against Liverpool on Sunday.