Manchester City vs Brentford: Andrews furious over penalty call

Keith Andrews was left angry after Kevin Schade went down under Matheus Nunes in the 71st minute and no penalty was given, even after VAR review. Brentford think that moment could have made it 1-1. Instead, Manchester City went on to win 3-0, and the result left them two points behind Arsenal in the Premier League race.

Why Andrews was so unhappy

Andrews did not hide where his frustration came from. He told Sky Sports: "I thought Kevin Schade's one in the second half was a penalty. So that was really disappointing."

He was even clearer about the state of the game at the time: "In what world he goes down unless there's contact is beyond me. Because there's a goal to get us back to 1-1. That's the one that I'm struggling to comprehend."

Brentford were not just annoyed by one moment. Sky Sports said three major refereeing decisions went against them, which is why the Schade incident landed so heavily. Micah Richards also said Matheus Nunes was very lucky to get the slightest touch on the ball, otherwise he was going off.

The wider referee debate

The Schade decision was the flashpoint, but the evening also included Bernardo Silva's arm swing at Nathan Collins, which led to a yellow for adopting an aggressive attitude. Richards said the VAR process was awkward for the officials because the on-field call was always likely to stand once it had gone one way.

He also suggested Schade may have clipped his own leg while running, though he still accepted there was at least some contact. That is the split in the story. Brentford saw a penalty that could have altered the scoreline, while City got the sort of marginal decisions that can decide tight games.

The table consequence is hard to ignore. Manchester City are second in the Premier League on 71 points, two behind Arsenal, after beating Brentford 3-0. Brentford remain eighth on 51 points. For Andrews, though, the argument starts with that 71st-minute call, because it was the clearest chance his side had to get back into the game.