Guardiola wants City players to raise their game rather than trust ‘flip of a coin’ officials

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Pep Guardiola believes officiating decisions are a “flip of a coin” and constantly urges his Manchester City players to perform better in order to overcome this.

Refereeing and the use of the video assistant referee are being scrutinised once more after Callum Wilson’s late disallowed goal in West Ham’s 1-0 defeat by Arsenal at the London Stadium on Sunday. The decision came after the referee Chris Kavanagh awarded the strike before being advised by the game’s VAR, Darren England, to review the incident at the pitchside monitor. On doing so, Kavanagh ruled the goal out for a foul on Arsenal’s goalkeeper, David Raya. Arsenal’s victory moved them to 79 points, five ahead of City, with two matches left, meaning that even if Guardiola’s side win their three remaining games they may not be able to catch Mikel Arteta’s team. The first of those comes against Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening.