I must admit that here we are on Wed morning, some of the dust has settled & I still firmly believe that as he was falling he knew 100% exactly what he was doing in reaching out for the ball to deflect it away from Ayew clear in the knowledge that Chelsea were already a goal down, Ayew would be through on goal & even though there was another defender on the other side of the box (Chillwell I think) Palace could also have poured supporting players forward & he didn't want to risk going into half time 2 down -

Players at that level think fast & react fast, in my mind he knew the defence had been compromised, he blatantly cheated & hoped that if he played on trying to convince people that he grabbed at the ball as though he had been fouled & remonstrated with the ref enough he hoped that he wouldn't get penalised too severely - which is exactly what happened

Its the sort of decision that because it was 30/40 yards out the refs can hide behind the was it an 'obvious goalscoring opportunity' question. You can debate that until the cows come home.

What is clear and obvious is that he purposely cheated. Not sending him off makes it 'ok'. And its not.

Thanks Kenny
My take on direction that Ayew was running, he was changing direction towards goal, as he was going round Silva. Players have previously been sent off when nearer the halfway line. Perhaps FIFA stats are taken into account

I'm also a qualified ref (semi retired) and saw this as a clear goalscoring opportunity.

The player handled the ball and prevented Ayew from his run towards the goal with NO players within 10 yards. The real problem here is that the VAR panel also saw it only as a yellow. On a Sunday morning over Purley Way you would get half the refs giving it and half not, the bias for the top 6 is clear to see.

Probably not to be honest. As much as some players are better finishers than others that shouldn't be taken into account.

The frustrating thing is, is if it had been even 10/15 yards further forward it would of been a definite red in my opinion.
The key part of it is it has to be an OBVIOUS Goal Scoring opportunity.. The word obvious, as someone else has mentioned can be interpreted in different ways.

In my opinion I wouldn't class Ayews chance as an obvious goal scoring opportunity but that's just my opinion. On the other hand it doesn't seem fair that such a cynical act only gets a yellow. Its a bit like when Chielini (prob spelt wrong) pulled Rashfords shirt by the neck in the Euro Final on the half way line to stop him.. It was so cynical that a yellow didn't seem enough.

Don't waste your time with jealousy. Sometimes your ahead, sometimes your behind, the race is long. But in the end it's only with yourself!!

Of course from Chelsea's side it was a smart move. Just a shame that the refs hide behind their rule book, rather than making an example and eradicating the clear and obvious cheating.

But maybe that's what Palace are missing a bit of at the min. Some old fashioned 'street smarts'. The foul that prevents the break, the timewasting, the shirt tugs that go unnoticed.

The things that he big teams do well and get away with it, and in tight games can be the difference between 1 and 3 points