Premier League take Chris Kavanagh action after Aston Villa referee errors vs Newcastle

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Premier League take Chris Kavanagh action after Aston Villa referee errors vs Newcastle

Referee Chris Kavanagh and assistant Nick Greenhalgh do not feature in Premier League appointments this weekend

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Sport

Ross Gregory Head of North East Sport and Mark Wakefield

19:32, 16 Feb 2026

Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn of Newcastle react after Chris Kavanagh failed to award a penalty during the FA Cup match with Aston Villa

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Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn of Newcastle react after Chris Kavanagh failed to award a penalty during the FA Cup match with Aston Villa(Image: Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

Chris Kavanagh will not oversee any Premier League fixture this weekend following several controversial decisions during last Saturday's Aston Villa versus Newcastle FA Cup encounter.

Kavanagh and his assistants Gary Beswick and Nick Greenhalgh faced widespread criticism for their performance during the FA Cup fourth-round tie at Villa Park, where they operated without VAR support, as was standard for all matches in that round.

The officiating team overlooked Tammy Abraham being in an offside position for Villa's opener, failed to penalise a high challenge by Villa defender Lucas Digne on Newcastle's Jacob Murphy which potentially merited a red card, and then awarded a free-kick for handball by Digne despite him clearly being inside the penalty box when the incident occurred.

Whilst Beswick has been assigned as an assistant for Sunday's Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool fixture, neither Kavanagh nor Greenhalgh appear on the weekend's list.

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Officials are held accountable for their performances, with the Professional Game Match Officials (PGMOL) selecting appointments based on various criteria including match assessments, which are evaluated afterwards by an independent key match incidents (KMI) panel, reports Chronicle Live.

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Nevertheless, Kavanagh remains well-respected within refereeing circles, having recently earned promotion to UEFA's elite roster of officials and routinely taking charge of Champions League fixtures. Earlier on Monday, Wayne Rooney suggested the mistakes were symptomatic of officials leaning too heavily on VAR.

During his stint as a BBC pundit for Saturday evening's live coverage, Rooney branded the handball decision "one of the worst decisions he had ever seen".

On the Wayne Rooney Show podcast afterwards, he elaborated: "I think there's over-reliance on VAR.

"And unfortunately, now the officials are used to that and where they've been getting their help and it's been getting them out of jail at times or they're waiting for that to make the decision.

"With no VAR they have to make the decision and they're probably used to keeping the flag down and that's what's cost the decisions yesterday."

Former Premier League referee Graham Scott, appearing as a guest on the podcast, disputed the notion that referees were sheltering behind VAR.

"Obviously I work with them closely and I know these guys and they’re not like that," Scott said.

"It's not how their minds work, not how their processes work. I spent half my career with VAR and half without it, the other way around of course, without it first.

"And then when I was in the Premier League I was still dropping into the Championship quite often. So you're in and out, in and out. And your processes essentially stay the same."

VAR technology will be implemented in the FA Cup from the fifth round stage. Premier League officials are strongly urged to trust their judgement during matches.

The English top flight boasts the lowest VAR intervention rate amongst Europe's major leagues, operating on the basis that referees' on-pitch decisions should only be overturned when a subjective call is clearly and obviously incorrect.