Premier League penalties: Liverpool, Chelsea, Man United and Man City all received calls on 16

Do top clubs benefit from big Premier League calls? It certainly will be on the 16th with four of the top five teams in the standings winning their respective matches thanks to goals from the penalty spot.

Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United – among the biggest clubs in Europe and all the way to the Champions League Round of 16 – each had a match decided by a penalty with the result being win. Some incidents were of a contentious type, but the final appeals of the referee were in their favor.

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Based on stats tracked by TransfermarktChelsea lead the Premier League with five penalties this season, followed by Manchester United with three. The penalty awarded to Manchester City in their 16th league game was the first of the season, while Liverpool have had two so far. The combined 11 penalties for these four teams account for 27.5% of all penalties taken this Premier League season.

Manchester United (11), Chelsea (10) and Manchester City (nine) are among the top four clubs receiving the punishment in the 2020-21 season, although Leicester City lead with 12. Liverpool have six in the season.

The coincidence that all 4 teams won the match through penalty shootout within a few hours did not go unnoticed by fans and observers. Here are the decisive punishments the four adults received and the conversation and controversy that ensued.

Chelsea penalty vs. Leeds

Left-back Antonio Rudiger (!) won both Chelsea penalties and both were called off by Jorginho. The second of two corners came deep into injury time, delivering the final blow for Leeds in a 3-2 win. And it led to a late miss with Rudiger at its center.

The first penalty came in the 56th minute, the score 1-1 when Raphinha fouled in the box caused referee Chris Kavanagh to make the decision. Although Kavanagh had initially awarded Chelsea a corner, he changed his mind after reviewing the video. Video replays showed Rudiger’s knee quickly buckling in the face of the challenge, in which Raphinha received the ball and slid past the player behind. But Rudiger sold it well, writhing on the ground after the tackle.

And the second penalty punished Leeds midfielder Mateus Klich for a foul with what looked like a knock on Rudiger’s back. But the Chelsea defender, with his back to goal, came down quickly.

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“What the referee decides is fine,” said Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa, who refused to contest the final result. “It was a game we deserved to draw and we lost as soon as it was over, which added to the frustration.”

Penalty of Manchester City vs. Wolves

Wolves saved their lives and kept the score 0-0 on the road, despite being reduced to 10 men after striker Raul Jimenez’s uncanny strike within 30 seconds.

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But in the 63rd minute, referee Jonathan Moss pointed to the penalty spot after the cross stretched across the armpit of Wolves midfielder Joao Moutinho, who also raised his hand. There was perhaps an argument to be made for and against a penalty (see play below), but the Wolves coach Bruno Lage struggles to understand decision.

“I don’t know how he can take a penalty from there,” Lage said, gesturing to the area of ​​his body where he felt the ball hit first.

Man City’s Raheem Sterling converted the effort into his 100th Premier League goal. The goal holds as a 1-0 winner.

Penalty between Liverpool vs Aston Villa

Despite some contact, it really seemed like there was a brief delay before Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah threw himself to the ground in search of the final penalty that decided 1-0 against Aston Villa.

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Referee Stuart Attwell gave it, and VAR couldn’t really make the case for a “clear and obvious error” because of the link. Even if it has risen to the point of a penalty kick it is purely a referee’s decision, but it cannot be overturned.

Liverpool fans will feel that any complaints are baseless as their club had other penalty kicks earlier in the game.

But Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard, who is on his first trip to Liverpool as a Premier League manager, argued that his defender Tyrone Mings was fouled earlier in the game and Villa “made it difficult for me”. He also mentioned a penalty call he felt he should have been given to Aston Villa:

Manchester United penalty vs. Norwich

Saturday’s Premier League ended with another penalty in favor of the high-performance club. Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to come down quite easily in the 73rd minute at Norwich, but defender Max Aarons was too high on this superstar. Referee Darren England called it, and this has no chance of being reversed either.

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Ronaldo took it upon himself to make the transition. See goals and fouls below. The situation decided the match, the score 1-0 for the Red Devils.

Norwich City boss Dean Smith was not pleased about the call and called it lighthearted. And then he went one step further, labeled it a “typical Manchester United penalty.”