Dermot Gallagher: 'Referee right to give Chelsea penalty versus Brighton'

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher says that it was the correct decision to award Chelsea a penalty against Brighton & Hove Albion.

In a dramatic game at Stamford Bridge that also featured the first-half sending off of Conor Gallagher, the Blues were able to prevail by a 3-2 scoreline.

The general consensus is that Gallagher deservedly received two yellow cards in quick succession, but Chelsea benefitted from a VAR call in the second half.

On the pitch, it was ruled that James Milner had not upended Mykhaylo Mudryk as he bid to get a shot away inside the penalty area, only to be advised otherwise.

Replays showed that Milner had tangled legs with Mudryk, partly a result of the veteran midfielder attempting to ease the winger away from goal, and it was decided that there was enough evidence for the initial call to be deemed a clear and obvious error.

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Speaking to Sky Sports News on Monday morning, Gallagher defended the decision to not send off Milner, who arguably made no attempt to make contact with the ball.

However, he felt that the Englishman was right to be adjudged to have committed a foul before the resulting penalty was converted by Enzo Fernandez.

Gallagher said: "It's clumsy, I think it is a penalty. It's a foul and I think it is a good intervention by the VAR.

"Because he goes with his feet, it is difficult, under the directives I think, to send the player off for a tripping action because the argument is that I have gone with my feet.

"I think it is a foul, I think the VAR has done well to alert him to the foul, but I don't think it is a red card. It is much easier to send somebody off if he has pushed him or pulled someone's shirt because it is obvious that he hasn't gone to play the ball."

Chelsea now sit within three points of eighth-placed Brighton in the Premier League table.