Premier League referee verdict after two contentious decisions during Man United vs Southampton

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has backed match official Stuart Attwell after two massive calls during Manchester United's 3-0 victory over Southampton on the South Coast.

Attwell found himself firmly in the spotlight on the half-hour mark as Diogo Dalot was penalised for appearing to foul Tyler Dibling inside the area. While some may have felt Dalot was hard done by, Gallagher told Sky Sports' Ref Watch that it was a good decision by the man in the middle.

"I think it's a definite foul," he said. "You slide like that, you've got to get the ball and he doesn't get the ball.

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"I think it's just inside the box. It's a good decision by the referee."

Fortunately from a United perspective, Andre Onana produced the goods as he denied Cameron Archer from 12 yards, swinging the game in the Reds' favour. Five minutes later, Matthijs de Ligt got United in front with a fine header before Marcus Rashford doubled the advantage with a curling effort.

In the second half, the match fell into a lull,. with Erik ten Hag's men finding no need to get out of second gear to defeat their opponents. On 79 minutes, Attwell became unpopular with the home fans as he sent off Jack Stephens for a lunging tackle on Alejandro Garnacho.

The match official pulled out a straight red card to bemusement of the home support and Gallagher, briefly. However, after watching replays of the incident, the former referee praised Attwell for his quick thinking.

"I don't mind a ref taking time," he concluded. "I watched it live and thought it was yellow, watched the replay and thought the referee was absolutely right. Credit to the referee."

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