WEST BROM midfielder Matheus Pereira was sent off for kicking out at Patrick van Aanholt during the Baggies’ 5-1 thrashing by Crystal Palace.
The Brazilian lost his head at the Hawthorns after 34 minutes and was shown a red card after a lengthy VAR check.
Palace left-back Van Aanholt caught Pereira, 24, with a late challenge midway inside the Eagles’ half.
But on the way down, Pereira kicked out with both feet and his right one caught the Dutchman on the hip.
Van Aanholt, 30, did not make a meal of it but clutched his midriff as he walked back into position
And while play was stopped, VAR Michael Oliver recommended Paul Tierney check the pitch side monitor.
After watching the replay four times at a variety of speeds and angles, Tierney strode over and ordered Pereira off the pitch.
The Baggies were level at the time after Conor Gallagher had cancelled out Darnell Furlong’s own-goal which had given the visitors the lead after eight minutes.
But Slaven Bilic’s men completely lost the plot after half-time and conceded FOUR times to lose 5-1.
Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke both scored twice as Roy Hodgson’s men ran riot.
Fans were split after the incident with Darren Hanmer tweeting: “Never a red card. Inconsistencies again with VAR.”
Benjamin simply wrote: “Definitely is.”
And Cam sat on the fence and said: “Bit of a tough one but can see why he’s given it.”
VAR was at the centre of another huge controversy on Saturday when Paul Pogba’s goal against West Ham was not ruled out despite the ball clearly going out of play in the build up.
The Red Devils had gone 1-0 down at the London Stadium before Pogba levelled with a stunning, controlled strike from range after 65 minutes.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team eventually won 3-1 but they were helped on their way by Pogba’s equaliser which should have been ruled out.
Dean Henderson’s ball clearly went out for a throw in.
The clearance curled out of play before eventually finding Bruno Fernandes, who teed up Pogba.
Fans inside the ground were shown a sign which read: “VAR checking goal, possible ball out of play.”
But somehow officials made another huge gaffe and the goal stood.
Match of the Day technology later revealed that the ball had gone out of play – by a clear margin.
Pundit Danny Murphy said: “You can see there Gary (Lineker), the linesman wasn’t actually looking up at the ball.”
And West Ham manager David Moyes, called it a ‘poor decision’ after the match.
