Premier League make decision on Man Utd officials after Nottingham Forest complaint

Nottingham Forest were left furious by the performances of the match officials in their defeat to Manchester United on Saturday, even lodging a complaint to referee bosses.

The Premier League have appointed both Stuart Attwell and Rob Jones to take charges of matches this weekend despite a complaint being lodged by Nottingham Forest.

Attwell was referee and Jones the VAR for Forest’s trip to Manchester United on Saturday, which the Red Devils won 3-2. The victory was helped by Attwell’s decision to send off Joe Worrall and award a penalty to the hosts for Danilo’s foul on Marcus Rashford.

Jones did not overturn either call, or ask Attwell to review the incidents on the pitchside monitor. That left Forest furious, with the club sending an email to the PGMOL lodging a complaint about the officials’ performances at Old Trafford.

But the Premier League have chosen to ignore that complaint for the time being, instead handing both Attwell and Jones appointments for the fourth game-week of the season. The league announced the referee appointments for the upcoming matches on Tuesday.

Attwell will take charge of Brighton’s clash with Newcastle in the prime-time 5.30pm slot on Saturday. He will then serve as VAR for Wolves ‘ trip to Crystal Palace at 2pm on Sunday, with Jones ironically the referee for that game.

Forest boss Steve Cooper made his frustration clear following his side’s defeat on Sunday. Though the Welshman admitted he was forced to hide his full anger amid the threat of a ban by the FA.

“We gave everything, that’s for sure,” Cooper told Match of the Day. “The start was a bit of an obscure one. You plan to start well but we didn’t think we’d start as well as that. It set the tone for the whole game.

“I’m not going to overegg a defeat too much, but at the same time you have to look a bit deeper than a result. It’s still a loss, though, and we have to turn it around if we can. We knew we’d have to absorb pressure from United, but we created chances ourselves. You need luck on your side. It was clear that it wasn’t with the way some situations went.

“The modern referees are top ones – they really take their time over things. It was the opposite today. I’d love to talk more and say what I really think, but I can’t do that.”

Cooper’s anger was defended by former Arsenal star Martin Keown, who insisted that a penalty should not have been awarded. He also called for conversations between referees and VARs to be broadcast publicly.