It’s never a good sign when a referee is in the main actor in any match. But, Jon Moss, WAR team and their decisions in today’s match between Manchester City and Wolverhampton clearly affected the final result: City – Wolves 1-0. It was Moss who decided to give second yellow card to Wolves striker Jimenez when he maybe should have given him a warning first, but while this decision can be defended, the penalty which he awarded to the home team cannot. Moss pointed to the spot when the ball struck Moutinho in the head, but WAR clearly showed that the ball hit the Portuguese to the body first and then bounced off and hit the elbow. Still, referee decided it was a good decision and the penalty was decisive in today’s match and gave City all three points.It was 30th minute when the first interesting thing happened, but it was not good: Kilman and Neves from Wolves struck each other in the head. It was painful and Kilman was even bleeding but they eventually made it without a substitution. And the only other situation worth reporting was the stupid sent off by Wolves striker Jimenez. The Mexican fouled Rodri at the middle of the field and received a yellow card. Just 48 seconds later, he was off. When Rodri tried to take the free kick, Jimenez totally necessary tried to block the shot from less than a meter away. Instead of giving him a stern warning, referee Jon Moss decided to be strict and expelled the experienced striker.100 – Raheem Sterling has scored his 100th goal in the Premier League. Sterling is the 32nd player to reach this total in the competition, and the eighth-youngest at 27 years and 3 days. Centurion. pic.twitter.com/QGKaeoPwwR— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 11, 2021 The second half was basically the same: City was attacking but couldn’t get anything done until Wolves keeper Sa made the first mistake of the day and allowed Gundogan to strike, but skipper Coady cleared his header off the line. Minutes later, referee Moss was in the center of action again, this time due to penalty he awarded to the home team. Bernardo Silva was patrolling the right side and crossed the ball into the penalty area, but the ball touched Mouthino’s hand, and Moss pointed to the spot. Even thou the footage showed that the ball touched Mouthino in the body and then bounced off to his elbow, Moss and VAR confirmed the penalty. Sterling’s shot was poor but it tricked Sa anyway and Manchester took the lead. With one man down and basically no game plan, Wolves knew this was the end. Jack Grealish had an unbelievable miss in the 70th minute, when he managed to miss the entire goal from only 4 meters. The Citizens kept coming, but Sa managed to stop Jesus’ and De Bruyne’s shots and eventually the game ended with a minimal, and yet controversial win. The only shot for Wolves on target was in injury time when Kilman had a great header, but Ederson saved just in time.PREMIER LEAGUE – ROUND 16FridayBrentford – Watford 2-1 (0-1)/Jansson 84, Mbeumo 90+5 pen – Dennis 24/SaturdayMan.City – Wolverhampton 1-0 (0-0)/Sterling (p) 66/18:00: (1.27) Liverpool (6.75) Aston Villa (11.0)18:00: (1.27) Chelsea (6.75) Leeds (11.0)18:00: (1.70) Arsenal (3.80) Southampton (5.70)20:30: (8.00) Norwich (4.50) Man.Utd. (1.47)Sunday17:00: (3.80) Burnley (3.50) West Ham (2.10)17:00: (1.85) Leicester (3.70) Newcastle (4.60)19:30: (2.40) Crystal Palace (3.10) Everton (3.45)Brighton – Tottenham POSTPONED***odds are subject to change
