Five refereeing decisions have cost Wolves after Raul Jimenez red in Leeds United defeat

The quality of the officiating in the Premier League has come under the spotlight this season - and Wolverhampton Wanderers have been on the end of their fair share of controversial decisions.

Bruno Lage watched star striker Raul Jimenez receive his second red card of the season as Wolves lost 3-2 to Leeds United on Friday night. Wolves were two-nil up and cruising when Kevin Friend dismissed Jimenez for a second bookable offence at Molineux.

The referee adjudged Jimenez - who had already been shown a yellow card for a first half foul on Pascal Struijk - to have initiated the contact with Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier. But replays showed the striker innocently contesting a 50/50 challenge and, if anything, coming off worse than Meslier.

It isn't the first decision which has gone against Wolves this season and with the stakes so high, European football might be lost on those refereeing calls. Jimenez's is one of five major decisions which has gone against Wolves in the Premier League this season.

Speaking more generally about the standard of refereeing in the Premier League to recently, Lage said: “I protect and I respect the referees a lot. The VAR is so important these days. The VAR cannot make mistakes, it should be there to help the referees.

“It’s so hard to be a referee. The game, especially here in the Premier League - the intensity, the speed of the game, the way the teams make tackles - it is important VAR helps the referees. They should not make too many mistakes and sometimes some mistakes happen. With VAR, it cannot happen in my opinion.”

Lage elected not to rewind his mind back to two contentious decisions before Christmas which went against Wolves, one of which could have huge ramifications on the race