Chris Kavanagh will not officiate any Premier League matches this weekend after several disputed calls during last Saturday’s FA Cup clash between Aston Villa and Newcastle United.
Kavanagh and his assistants, Gary Beswick and Nick Greenhalgh, faced heavy criticism for their performance at Villa Park, where VAR was not available as per the rules governing the FA Cup’s fourth round.
Among the contentious decisions, the officiating team failed to flag Tammy Abraham for offside on Villa’s opening goal, missed a dangerous high challenge by Villa defender Lucas Digne on Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy that could have warranted a red card, and awarded a free-kick for handball against Digne despite the incident occurring inside the penalty area.
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While assistant Gary Beswick will serve for Sunday’s Premier League fixture between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool, neither Kavanagh nor Greenhalgh have been assigned to any matches this weekend.
Referees’ performances are rigorously evaluated by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) using an independent Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel, which informs upcoming appointments and disciplinary decisions, according to reports by Chronicle Live.
Despite the controversy, Kavanagh remains highly regarded within officiating circles. He was recently promoted to UEFA’s elite list of referees and regularly oversees Champions League fixtures.
Wayne Rooney, acting as a BBC pundit for the match broadcast, criticized the decisions sharply, describing the handball call as “one of the worst decisions he had ever seen.” On his podcast, Rooney suggested that officials’ heavy dependence on VAR technology during matches may have contributed to these errors.
“I think there’s over-reliance on VAR," Rooney explained on the Wayne Rooney Show. “The officials have grown used to receiving assistance from VAR and sometimes that has helped them out of difficult decisions. Without VAR, they now have to rely entirely on their own judgment, which seems to have led to some mistakes.”
Former Premier League referee Graham Scott, appearing on Rooney’s podcast, rejected the notion that referees hide behind VAR. “I work closely with these officials; that’s not how their thought processes work,” Scott said. “I refereed both with and without VAR, switching between leagues, and fundamentally their decision-making approach remains consistent.”
VAR will be introduced from the fifth round of the FA Cup onwards. Meanwhile, Premier League referees are encouraged to trust their instincts and make firm on-pitch calls. The Premier League maintains the lowest rate of VAR intervention among Europe’s top leagues, emphasizing that only clear and obvious errors should be overturned.