As well as their love for Ian Wright, Crystal Palace and Arsenal fans can now say they have something else in common: a shared dislike for VAR Darren England. In his fan club, they are not.
It was England who confirmed the straight red for Myles Lewis-Skelly on Saturday, and here, Selhurst Park was left ruing that Stockley Park influence as the rare occurrence of a retaken penalty ultimately pushed Oliver Glasner’s side to a first Premier League loss since December.
It was a spot-kick, without question, Maxence Lacroix giving Nathan Collins a good kicking to the shin. Bryan Mbeumo stepped up, struck the post, and Marc Guehi produced the clearance.
But it was while Palace were celebrating that England noticed Guehi had encroached into the ‘D’ of the box. Ordered as a retake, Mbeumo scored at the second go. Rules are rules, though that did not stop Palace’s supporters from letting us all know their thoughts on VAR.
It felt like a big let-off for Brentford. Not that they cared how they took the lead, so long as they did. Even before Mbeumo had began his run-up for his second spot-kick, Yoane Wissa was off, running towards the away end, arms wide in celebration, comically confident it was going in.
Brentford went on to double their advantage through Kevin Schade. Romain Esse, Palace’s new £14.5million signing from Millwall, made it 2-1 on his Premier League debut, but that strike was only a consolation for Glasner.
Eberechi Eze was involved in everything for Palace and in the seventh minute, he flicked on a pass from Will Hughes to set up Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Seven of Eze’s last eight Premier League assists had been for Mateta, so Palace’s fans rose to their feet in anticipation. The striker tried to the blast the ball beyond Mark Flekken, but Brentford’s goalkeeper beat it away.
Brentford’s first chance came after 22 minutes as Wissa, with back to goal, turned and took aim. Only the fingertips of Dean Henderson stopped it from finding the far corner.
When Mads Roerslev was then fouled by Lacroix 25 yards from goal, Mbeumo stood over the ball for Brentford. He curled it narrowly wide, much to Henderson’s relief.
In the 56th minute, down went Eze and up went the yellow card for Vitaly Janelt as Palace won a wide 25-yard free-kick. Eze took it, a deflection from Sepp Van Den Berg in the wall sending it crashing into the post.
It was in the 61st minute when Brentford won their penalty. It started with Guehi’s clearance being blocked by the arms of Hughes. Referee Tony Harrington gave nothing for that. But he did call the foul when Lacroix then whacked Collins without winning the ball.
Mbeumo stepped up, struck the post to his left, and Palace cleared via Guehi. But Harrington paused play as VAR England checked for an encroachment.
Brentford were allowed a retake and there was no mistake this time, as Mbeumo went to his right and scored.
Brentford scored again in the 80th minute, a cross from Mikkel Damsgaard being headed home by Schade.
Esse tapped in Daniel Munoz’s assist to complete the scoreline, as Palace, who had previously lost only one of their last 11 Premier League games, were condemned to defeat.
