An incident involving a tackle on a Wolverhampton Wanderers player in the build up to Manchester City’s goal has emerged, putting a bigger shadow over referee Chris Kavanagh after Sunday’s controversy.
Gary O’Neil and his Wolves side are still without a win in the Premier League, but they will be pleased with their performance against the Blues, with their anger directed at the performance of Kavanagh rather than any of the players.
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Wolves came into the game against Pep Guardiola’s side sitting at the bottom of the table, and an easy win for the away side was expected. However, Wolves made sure that wasn’t the case, as they took an early lead and put in a very impressive display. Josko Gvardiol levelled the away side, and then a dramatic and questionable goal from John Stones in the last minute sealed the win for City.
The incident at the end of the game has been the talking point, with O’Neil believing there “could be an unconscious bias” towards the bigger teams in the league when it comes to refereeing decisions: “I can categorically tell you they don’t mean to.
“They are 100 per cent honest. I just know from a human point of view it’s tough. I feel different playing Manchester City than someone else in the Carabao Cup first round. I’m sure they feel it; they are human. I don’t know if I’m miles off; it just feels there could be.”
He added: “If I had to upset someone in the street and there’s a big and little guy in the street, I’m upsetting the little guy. There is something in there, and they don’t do it on purpose and are doing the best job they can. Maybe there’s something which just edges it in that direction when it’s really tight.”
Possession
22.4%
77.6%
Shots
3
22
Shots on target
2
7
Shots off target
1
7
Total touches in the box
0
8
Goalkeeper saves
5
1
Aerial duels won
14
13
Fouls
8
5
Corners
1
18
Meanwhile, on the positive front for Wolves, former Premier League player Nigel Re-Coker hopes the Midlands side take the same “desire” shown against Man City into their other games this season. But while Wolves may be just about calming down from Sunday’s match, a new incident has emerged in the lead up to City’s goal.
Chris Kavanagh missed a clear foul before Man City's goal
As stated, Man City claimed all three points away at Wolves on Sunday in a fashion that has been labelled controversial. Now, footage has emerged of a tackle on a Wolves player before that goal that could have been blown up for a foul and therefore seen the game end all square.
Goncalo Guedes was carrying the ball towards the City goal when, it appears, he was pushed to the ground before losing the ball. City had a couple of corners between this and the goal, so it wasn’t an incident that led directly to the goal, but it all happened within the space of a couple of minutes.
This is footage that will annoy Wolves fans even more and raise even more questions after O’Neil’s comments about unconscious bias towards the bigger Premier League teams.