‘Certain clubs get those decisions’ – David Moyes has been left frustrated by inconsistencies from Premier League officials.
Arsenal moved back to the top of the Premier League thanks to a Viktor Gyokeres’ penalty after Jake O’Brien’s handball.
Everton controversially saw a big penalty appeal dismissed by VAR in the 57th minute, with the Premier League Match Centre tweeting: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Everton was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed the contact from Saliba on Barry wasn’t sufficient for a penalty.”
However, Everton were denied a potential penalty when William Saliba appeared to kick Thierno Barry, with VAR deeming contact insufficient.
He also criticised officials for needing VAR on obvious calls, was annoyed at O’Brien’s “poor decision” to raise arms, and noted reluctance from PGMOL to explain decisions.
“Certain clubs seem to get these decisions, others don’t”
David Moyes believes that there are inconsistencies in decisions after Everton were not awarded a penalty against Arsenal and he insists that ‘it is not easy’ to discuss decisions after games 😬 pic.twitter.com/T5K5DBE5bV
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) December 23, 2025
Moyes in his press conference, per Liverpool Echo: “It feels as though certain clubs seem to get those decisions and other clubs don’t. We seem to be on the latter side of that.
“They don’t make it easy whatever you want, they don’t want have a conversation about it really. They will have but they don’t really want to because they’re finding it probably very difficult to explain the decisions.”
Asked if Everton were going to compile footage of similar incidents to try and get an explanation: “No, I don’t think we are, no, I don’t think we’re going to compile anything.
“It’s just getting a wee bit difficult to work out quite often at the moment, you know, whether we’re getting treated well or whether we’re not, and sometimes good explanations and understanding and maybe explaining other reasons why might help, but it might not help either.
“I think we’re just finding probably that last night’s decision was not disimilar to ours, but it was given. The referee on field gave the decision immediately.
“I wondered why the referee in our game didn’t, and it took VAR… and actually probably the more worrying thing was, it was 100% a penalty kick which Arsenal get because of Jake O’Brien’s arms and where they are. There’s no question but the on-field referee didn’t give that on the day. It was VAR who eventually came in and had to do it, because he was sent to the screen, wasn’t he? So, you would have expected the referee to see two arms up there, wouldn’t you?
“Or the linesman, that you’d have expected them to see, which would have happened in old money by the way, if you’d seen his arms up, it was a penalty kick. So it’s not generally just me moaning, and actually you have to say after the game, I was the one who came out and I said I wasn’t sure it was a penalty kick, but after what I saw last night, I’m saying, you can’t do that and not do what’s happened to us. Well, I don’t think so.”
David Moyes makes feelings clear after penalty controversy in Everton’s defeat to Arsenal
On O’Brien’s actions in his aerial duel with Riccardo Calafiori which gave a penalty away: “No, I was annoyed with Jake, I thought it was a really, unbelievably poor decision he made to put his arms up in the air.
“He said he got pushed when he was jumping, he got pushed and his arms flew up, so one way or the other, if you put your arms up there you’re going to have to, and there are moments where you do get pushed and you’re using your arms for balance and not to look so bad.
“I said: ‘Well if you get pushed you might as well do what everybody else has done and fall down’. Maybe Thierno didn’t roll about enough to earn the decision, I don’t know, but I don’t really want my teams to be like that, I actually don’t want to see soft penalty kicks.
“I’m not a believer of soft penalty kicks, so that’s why maybe my thinking after the game. But after what I saw last night, I’m saying well, if that’s the way it’s going to be, why are we not getting the same decisions?”
In Everton’s defeat at Leeds, James Tarkowski was controversially deemed to have handled the ball in the area, Moyes claimed afterwards that referees had endured a bad weekend, but since then he has tempered his comments about match officials.
After a controversial handball decision against Everton in their opening game at Leeds involving James Tarkowski, David Moyes initially said that referees had a bad weekend.
He said: “They did and I’m not criticising referees today, I’m questioning.
“Surely the on-field referee didn’t need VAR to decide that Jake O’Brien had his two hands up in the air, and that’s me going against my own team. Why did he need to wait on VAR to make that decision?”
Social media users reacted as David Moyes says ‘certain clubs get those decisions’, frustrated by inconsistencies from officials…
@bluemaccaEFC: All we ask for is fairness, and not for decisions and money to be weighted towards Arsenal, Liverpool and the other clubs that threatened to form their own Super League. The PL, UEFA and FIFA have to stop this obsession with a global brand and begin creating fair competitions.
@kwrmag: A decision should not be subjective otherwise the game is gone, as it leads to too many inconsistencies. Like Rugby you apply the rules step by step in making the decision For example did he kick the attackers foot, yes, was it in the penalty box yes, then it’s a penalty.
@BluDazza17: Dodgy @FA_PGMOL at it again ensuring the darling @premierleague 6 don’t have thjngs go against them. #Corrupt to the core. #KillingTheGameForGreed
@kennytrainer72: It’s being done in clear sight of everyone that the corruption is there for all to see… the big 6 are getting the big decisions go for them to keep the premier league cartel of 6 apart from the rest
@JACKDEL15: Ultimately the fault lies with Howard Webb. The lack of consistency in the referee’s game to game is ridiculous. The PGMOL is not fit for purpose.
@xMaccaEFC: More of this stuff, every other cunt cries about decisions an puts pressure on referees, so should we
@_Chris_Martin_: I thought VAR would clear up 99% of what the ref may have missed but all its done has added another layer of inconsistency. There has been to many in the last few weeks where teams were not given a penalty which would alter the game (I thought Schar was very lucky against City)
@kennytrainer72: It’s being done in clear sight of everyone that the corruption is there for all to see… the big 6 are getting the big decisions go for them to keep the premier league cartel of 6 apart from the rest
@wilsoa10: #PremierLeagueIsCorrupt @FA_PGMOL are not fit for purpose
Bang on. #NUFC https://t.co/ZQTQx4TqO8 pic.twitter.com/yzdNYfJmcN
— Magpie 24/7 (@Magpie24_7) December 23, 2025
