Leicester 1-1 Everton: Three Foxes Talking Points

A close eye on the officials

Since the independent panel ruled in Leicester’s favour a few weeks ago, the Foxes have been the victims of two poor sets of performances by match officials. First, there was David Coote’s erratic display in the Villa match and this was followed by the controversial VAR decision which cost the club two points against Palace. Coincidence? Not if you spend long on social media where conspiracy theorists have suggested that the Premier League will use every opportunity to harm the club they haven’t been able to penalise through legitimate routes.

The performance of the officials in Leicester’s next match was always going to be closely observed. In the event, Darren England had a decent game. He made two big mistakes today, one advantaging Leicester and one their opponents. He blew for half time just as the ball reached Dwight McNeil with a clear run on goal. In addition, to the detriment of the Foxes, he - commonly amongst referees - failed to penalise Everton for constant time wasting, Jordan Pickford being the major culprit. The four minutes stoppage time at the end of the game was probably half of what should have been awarded.