Mark Clattenburg Says Richarlison Didn't Dive Against Arsenal & Penalty Was 'Correct Decision'

Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has insisted that Watford's Richarlison did not dive to win a penalty in Saturday's 2-1 win over Arsenal.

Troy Deeney scored from the spot to level the scores in the second half, before Tom Cleverley's injury time winner.

But the decision to award a penalty was a contentious one, and is set to be referred to the FA panel.

Charlie Crowhurst/GettyImages

Clattenburg, though, has stressed that there was more to the incident than there may have appeared.

“It was the correct decision to award the penalty as there was contact between him and Hector Bellerin, that wasn’t initiated by the forward,” Clattenburg said, quoted by the Daily Star.

“It is interesting because I’ve looked at three angles of the incident; the first one looks like nothing, there appears to be no contact.

“The second also looks like no contact, but a third angle that I’ve studied shows Bellerin’s left leg hit the right leg of Richarlison.

"There is contact. We as referees cannot work out if that’s sufficient contact to award a penalty.

"But what we try to understand is that if a player is at full pace and there is contact, then experience tells us that it will knock the attacker over.

“It’s like when a 110m hurdler slightly glances a hurdle at full pace: it knocks them down. It is very similar with football.

“If Bellerin touches the ball first then it’s play on, but because Richarlison touches the ball first and there is contact from the Arsenal full back that is consistent with the striker going to ground, then the referee Neil Swarbrick is right to give the penalty.”