Pep Guardiola staunchly defends the integrity of Premier League referees in the wake of Nottingham Forest’s explosive tweet… and insists he ‘absolutely disagrees’ with club’s accusation of bias against Stuart Attwell

Pep Guardiola has defended the integrity of referees in English football after the backlash to Nottingham Forest’s statement on Stuart Attwell’s involvement in their defeat at Everton.

The Manchester City manager insisted that he ‘absolutely disagrees’ with Forest’s accusation of bias regarding the appointment of the Luton Town fan as a VAR official.

The Premier League manager said he was ‘extremely disappointed’ and added that it was ‘never appropriate to improperly question the integrity of match officials’.

‘I absolutely disagree,’ Guardiola said. ‘The referees want to do the job as best as possible. They feel the pressure, we put pressure on them for the passion of the game in the moment.

‘But when I sit here and reflect, they try to do their best and are under scrutiny with the cameras there. When they make a mistake, they feel bad. It’s normal.

Nottingham Forest sparked backlash after sharing a statement damning VAR Stuart Attwell in the wake of their 2-0 defeat to Everton

The club – which is owned by Evangelos Marinakis (pictured) – is under investigation by the FA

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‘They do the job, they want to do it well. The game is so difficult, it is fast and quick, decisions have to be made in one instant. It’s not easy.’

Guardiola confirmed that top scorer Erling Haaland’s muscle issue has not cleared up in time to make Thursday’s trip down to Brighton – but does have a double injury boost.

Phil Foden missed training on Tuesday but is available for the clash, while John Stones is ready after coming off at half time of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final victory over Chelsea.

‘I have huge admiration (for Roberto De Zerbi) and it is growing every season,’ Guardiola added. ‘They had a lot of problems, important players were sold like Colwill, Caicedo, Mac Allister. They have a lot of injuries and play three competitions but the way they play is always there. He is doing an incredible job at Brighton.’