Chris Kavanagh will not referee top-flight game this weekend after FA Cup errors
By Jamie Gardner, Press Association Chief Sports Reporter
Chris Kavanagh has not been appointed to referee a Premier League game this weekend after a series of errors during the Aston Villa v Newcastle FA Cup tie last Saturday.
Kavanagh and his assistants Gary Beswick and Nick Greenhalgh were heavily criticised for their performance during the FA Cup fourth-round clash at Villa Park, where they were operating without VAR as was the case for all ties in the round.
They failed to spot Tammy Abraham was offside for Villa’s opening goal, missed a shin-high tackle by Villa full-back Lucas Digne on Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy which could have warranted a straight red card and then gave a free-kick for a handball by Digne even though he was clearly inside the penalty area at the time.
Justice for Newcastle? ⚫⚪
The Magpies wanted a penalty, but Sandro Tonali eventually scores anyway from the resulting free-kick! ⚽ pic.twitter.com/tADr63R6aC— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) February 14, 2026
Beswick was named as an assistant for the Nottingham Forest v Liverpool match on Sunday, but Kavanagh and Greenhalgh do not feature.
Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) believes in officials being accountable for their errors which explains Kavanagh missing out this weekend.
However, he is highly regarded, was recently promoted to UEFA’s elite list of referees and regularly officiates in the Champions League.
Earlier on Monday, Wayne Rooney said he believed the errors made were an indication of an over-reliance on VAR by officials.
Rooney described the handball call as “one of the worst decisions he had ever seen”, in his role as one of the BBC’s pundits for the live broadcast of the match on Saturday evening.
Speaking on the Wayne Rooney Show podcast subsequently, he added: “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, who was a guest on the podcast, said he did not think it was fair to say referees were hiding behind VAR.
“Obviously I work with them closely and I know these guys and they’re not like that,” he 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 will be used in the FA Cup from the fifth round onwards.
Top-flight referees are very much encouraged to back themselves in their on-field decisions.
The Premier League has the lowest VAR intervention rate of any major European competition and works on the principle that unless a subjective decision is clearly and obviously wrong, the referee’s call on-field should stand.
