Sky Sports pundit disagrees with Dermot Gallagher about Everton’s overturned penalty vs Brighton

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Everton are a club that has felt harshly mistreated in recent years, and with good reason.

After all, the Premier League were relentless in their efforts to drag the Toffees down, administering two separate points deductions last campaign which condemned them to constant relegation threat until the final month of play.

However, that alone did not frustrate Evertonians and add to the rift between themselves and their own division.

It also did not help that they were not awarded a penalty until March, despite having had more than enough chances to be justifiably handed one.

Goodison Park boos the Premier League anthem prior to kick-off purely because of things like this, and given how the new season has now started, this is a standpoint that seems unlikely to change anytime soon.

Sky Sports react to overturned Everton’s penalty

Speaking on Sky Sports earlier this morning, on their episode of Ref Watch, they enlisted the help of former professional referee Dermot Gallagher to comb over the weekend’s officiating flashpoints.

As someone who notoriously struggles to go against the referee unless absolutely forced to, it should come as no surprise to see him back Simon Hooper and VAR’s intervention to overturn Everton’s penalty on Saturday. He claimed: ’I thought it was a really good intervention by the VAR because Dominic Calvert-Lewin stands on Dunk’s foot.

‘That’s what knocks him off balance. I don’t think it’s a foul and the VAR quite rightly alerts the referee.

‘When I saw that I didn’t think it was a penalty, and that’s what you want the VAR for.’

However, in a really refreshing change of pace, pundit Sue Smith actually pushed back and argued his point, noting: ‘As Dunk goes down, he goes into Calvert-Lewin’s space. Calvert-Lewin’s trying to turn and shoot and he treads on Dunk.

‘It impedes him from being able to take a shot. Dunk going down early stops Calvert-Lewin being able to take a shot.

‘I don’t think this should have been overturned.’

Another season of refereeing heartbreak to come for Everton

Whilst they are not the most attacking team in the world, and thus unlikely to conjure up countless opportunities to win penalties, there were so many chances for them to win one before March last season.

And now, controversy has been rife right away, and is unlikely to dispel any corruption claims as the campaign drags on.

It does get tiring as an Evertonian to constantly be blaming someone else when the club itself is the sole source of regression, but moments like this do not help.

If there is ever a decision that rests on a knife’s edge, you can always bet that it will go against the Toffees.

So, they simply need to put results beyond all reasonable doubt, and Sean Dyche can only do that by embedding his new players and hoping they can inspire mass change.