Sky Sports have questions to answer as Sunderland controversy met with deafening silence
Sunderland’s clash with Bournemouth was marred by a series of refereeing howlers from Jarred Gillett.
Off the back of three defeats in a row, Sunderland ended the rot with a 1-1 draw away to Bournemouth, which, with all things considered, was a very good result.
The Black Cats were without Jocelin Ta Bi, Romaine Mundle, Nordi Mukiele and Brian Brobbey, so to get that extra point on the board can only be seen as a good thing.
However, had it not been for yet another shameful performance from referee Gillett, Sunderland would have almost certainly taken all three points.
And despite the baffling number of controversies, Sky Sports have failed to make note of any of them.
Ref Watch silence speaks volumes about state of Premier League
The controversy at Vitality started within minutes, after Enzo Le Fee was bundled to the floor from behind, and yet received no penalty for the clear foul.
To make matters worse, Gillett then pulled up a Cherries star for an identical foul seconds later, albeit this time outside the box.
Bournemouth then got fortunate again when Tyler Adams hacked Granit Xhaka down, only to receive a yellow card and nothing more, despite shouts – and honest ones at that – for a red.
And the controversy didn’t stop there. Minutes after Adams could have seen red, Evanilson levelled the game for the hosts, with what appeared to be his arm.
But believe it or not, Sky Sports failed to acknowledge any of the incidents when addressing the biggest controversies in the Premier League this weekend on Ref Watch.
It demonstrates a clear lack of accountability by those in charge, and now marks the third game in a row where Sunderland have been done over by some horrendous officiating.
What did Regis Le Bris say about Sunderland controversy?
Understandably, Regis Le Bris was not happy with the number of decisions that went against his side.
Sunderland arguably did enough to take all three points from the game for only the third time on the road this season, but were restricted in their attempts to do so by Gillett.
Le Bris felt as though several decisions were poor, as outlined in his interview after the game.
“I think it [penalty decision] would have changed things a lot, but it is what it is,” the Frenchman said. “We can’t change the decision now.”
“It [Adams on Xhaka] was a foot-on-foot challenge, and that is always dangerous. Often in this league, when you have this kind of action, it is a red card.”
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