Respected Pundit Hits Out at Standard of Premier League Refereeing After Weekend of Inconsistency

Sky Sports pundit, and former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has gone on a Twitter rant, venting his frustrations at the inconsistency shown by Premier League refereeing this past weekend.

Saturday afternoon's early kick-off between Liverpool and Manchester City saw the Reds' Sadio Mane handed his marching orders for a high foot challenge on City keeper Ederson. The attacker was shown a straight red card as he left the shot stopper in a heap on the floor in need of stitches on his face.

However, Sunday afternoon saw Newcastle's Matt Ritchie only receive a yellow card for a very similar challenge on Swansea centre-half Alfie Mawon; a move which triggered Neville to comment on Twitter:

The 42-year-old developed his argument in a series of tweets, claiming that the inconsistencies will result in confusion for everyone:

"Excessive force , endangering a player !! Red apparently" Neville commented.

"The red yesterday irrespective of which view you have will result in total confusion in the coming weeks and months on high boot challenges

"Contact - intent - apparently not important ...

"Everytime a ball is high , a foot is high , the head stoops it's dangerous !! Overhead kicks are a thing of the past....

"The red brigade just got confused .. every high foot challenge in future is a red ... it endangers a player

"Let's see it play out over a few weeks.. the red guys will be all over the place..."

Liverpool have until 1pm Monday afternoon to lodge an appeal for Mane's red card, though it is unexpected that the club will take such measures.