Simulation Saturday: Chris Foy should have sent off Gary Cahill for diving at Stamford Bridge but he was right to book Willian 

• Saturday saw a series of controversial incidents in the Premier League
• Two players were booked for simulation for Chelsea against Hull City 
• Here, Graham Poll goes through all the incidents and gives his verdict  

By Graham Poll for the Daily Mail

Published: 17:30 EST, 14 December 2014 | Updated: 07:00 EST, 15 December 2014

It was an incredible Saturday of bad tackles, red cards and dives.

Here I cast my eye over a host of controversial incidents and give my verdict on whether the men in black got their decisions right or wrong...

Chelsea v Hull City

Chris Foy had a tough afternoon at Stamford Bridge where the attitude and approach of both teams made decisions hard and all the more difficult when so many players surrounded him and pressured him to send opponents off. The FA must look at this and charge Hull with failing to control their players - whatever the provocation or sense of injustice, this cannot be allowed to go without sanction.

Foul by Jon Obi Mikel on Sone Aluko in the centre circle which was not given, and Chelsea scored the first after gaining possession.

Verdict: WRONG

Chelsea's Jon Obi Mikel (right) should have been penalised for fouling Hull City's Sone Aluko

Eden Hazard scored Chelsea's first goal following Mikel's foul on Aluko, which was not given

Willian dives and is correctly cautioned for simulation.

Verdict: RIGHT

Chris Foy (right) booked Chelsea's Willian for diving against Hull at Stamford Bridge on Saturday

Willian (left) goes down under a challenge from Curtis Davies, who tried to pull away from it

The Brazilian midfielder goes to ground theatrically at Stamford Bridge, however

Foy did not buy the dive and rightly booked Willian for simulation against Hull

Gary Cahill goes over the top of the ball with an outstretched boot, studs showing and catches Aluko. The Chelsea defender was cautioned but should have been sent off.

Verdict: WRONG

Chelsea defender Gary Cahill goes through Hull's Aluko in this challenge that landed him a booking

Hull's Nikica Jelevic and Tom Huddlestone wanted more serious punishment for the foul by Cahill

Steve Bruce: I'm saying p*** all about refereeing to save £10,000...

Cahill bursts into the penalty area and dives between two Hull defenders, both of whom pull out of challenge. Not booked.

Verdict: WRONG

Gary Cahill (obscured, centre) goes down theatrically in the box for Chelsea against Hull City

The Chelsea centre back (left) looks on in shock at Huddlestone (right) tells him to get up

Referee Foy (second right) points for a goal kick and wrongly failed to produce a second yellow for Cahill

Alex Bruce goes into a challenge at pace and while he wins the ball the speed of the tackle makes it dangerous and he is cautioned.

Verdict: RIGHT

Alex Bruce (right) was booked by Foy for going into a challenge which had too much pace to it

Tom Huddlestone dangles a leg out to challenge Diego Costa who dives over the leg. Had the Spanish striker continued the run he would have been fouled and possibly injured. While many would disagree I thought it was a foul but Foy cautioned for diving.

Verdict: WRONG

Diego Costa (right) was booked for simulation after a challenge on him from Huddlestone

Foy (centre) brandishes a yellow card to Costa, wrongly, after believing he dived during the match

Huddlestone commits a horrible over-the-top tackle leaving Foy with a simple decision to send him off.

Verdict: RIGHT

Huddlestone (right) was correctly sent off for an over-the-top challenge against Chelsea

Arsenal v Newcastle United

Lee Mason had a relatively quiet afternoon but still managed a couple of strange decisions.

Cheick Tiote went in very high, leading with studs on Alexis Sanchez with a very poor challenge, and should have been sent off.

Verdict: WRONG

Cheick Tiote (right) should have been sent off for Newcastle United after a challenge on Alexis Sanchez (left)

Danny Welbeck danced through the Newcastle defence and scored a lovely goal but Mason pulled play back and awarded a free kick to the Magpies for a foul by Welbeck on Janmaat.

Verdict: WRONG

Arsenal's Danny Welbeck should not have been penalised for pulling back Newcastle's Daryl Janmaat

Paul Dummett certainly fouled Danny Welbeck for the Arsenal penalty.

Verdict: RIGHT

Paul Dummett (left) was rightly penalised for pulling down Welbeck in the box on Saturday

Burnley v Southampton

Mark Clattenburg also had two stand-out decisions to make and could not have been in better positions to judge.

There was a collision between Burnley’s Michael Keane and Jake Hesketh in the first half. Both players went in committed to the challenge and Clattenburg saw it as 50-50.

Verdict: RIGHT

Michael Keane (right) vies for the ball with Southampton midfielder Jake Hesketh on Saturday

A far easier call came when George Boyd brought Ryan Betrand down for a penalty for the visitors.

Verdict: RIGHT

Burnley's George Boyd (left) leaves his leg in and brings down Southampton's Ryan Bertrand in the box

Bertrand went down under Boyd's challenge and a penalty was rightly awarded to Southampton

West Bromwich Albion v Aston Villa

Again there were two key decisions and, similar to Clattenburg, I thought Mike Dean got both of them spot on.

There was talk of a harsh red card at The Hawthorns but I thought this was a very good decision by Dean. Kieran Richardson absolutely flew into the challenge and was completely out of control of his forward motion. He caught the opponent, West Brom’s Stephane Sessegnon, and could have caused a serious injury.

Verdict: RIGHT

Kieran Richardson of Aston Villa goes through the back of West Bromwich Albion's Stephane Sessegnon

Richardson (left) was sent off for Villa following the challenge and it was a correct decision by the official

The worst simulation of the day (not that we want to be giving out awards for this!) and again Dean called it correctly as West Brom’s Sebastien Pocognoli produced a shocking dive and was rightly cautioned.

Verdict: RIGHT

West Brom's Sebastien Pocognoli (left) was rightly booked for simulation during the match with Villa

Sunderland v West Ham United

A game of two penalty appeals at the Stadium of Light, which I thought Phil Dowd got wrong - but it might well have been that his assistant erred with the first decision.

Adam Johnson drove into the West Ham penalty area and went sprawling over under James Tomkins attention. It was not a foul and only Johnson knows if he deliberately simulated the foul. Irrespective, it was not a penalty.

Verdict: WRONG

Adam Johnson of Sunderland goes down under a challenge from West Ham United's James Tomkins

Johnson (left) won a penalty but that decision was incorrect as there was no real contact from Tomkins

In the second half Winston Reid misjudged the flight of the ball and then played it with an outstretched arm. For consistency this season a penalty should have been awarded.

Verdict: WRONG

West Ham's Winston Reid (left) should have been penalised for handling the ball in the area

CONCLUSION

Another tough day for the referees in a season where they had a clear objective to avoid controversy. Too many clear errors are undermining their credibility and affecting the outcome of games.

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