Crystal Palace: Can the Eagles stop the slide and were they unlucky in awarding the penalty kick?

It does not seem that luck is on Palace’s side at the moment, as they conceded a third goal from a penalty kick in controversial circumstances.

As goalkeeper Dean Henderson fell to the ground, defender Jade Canfoot blocked Joao Pedro’s shot with his arm, and referee Darren England waved away Chelsea’s objections, his arm appearing to be in a natural position at his side.

However, England stopped the match after 51 seconds after being advised by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to re-watch the incident on the pitch-side screen.

He spent one minute and 55 seconds watching the replay before announcing: “It is an unintentional handball, so it is a penalty kick, but it is just a yellow card.”

Then midfielder Enzo Fernandez made no mistake in the penalty kick to put an end to the match, before Chris Richards responded late.

Former Premier League referee Darren Cane believes there was an error in the decision, telling BBC Sport: “In my opinion, Crystal Palace were unfortunate to award a penalty.

“The ball appears to hit Jayde Canfoot’s hip before his arm, which was in its normal position.

“There is no penalty in my opinion because Canfoot did not intentionally touch the ball or put his arm in an unnatural position.”

Just 24 hours earlier, England had used VAR at the Etihad Stadium, advising referee Farai Hallam to take a look at a very similar incident during Manchester City’s win over Wolves.

Hallam initially ruled that Wolves defender Yerson Mosquera’s arm was in a normal position and chose to stand by his call on the field, receiving overwhelming praise and being described as “brave” for sticking with his initial decision.

The directives indicated that Chelsea were awarded the penalty kick on Sunday because Canfoot was denied the opportunity to score a goal.

However, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) suggested on its website that a penalty should not be awarded if a player “does not deliberately touch the ball and does not make his body unnaturally larger”.

“I watched the penalty and the first one was on Jade’s hip,” Palace boss Glasner said. “We were told before the season that if the ball touches the body first and then goes to the hand, it’s not a handball.”