Ref Watch: Did Everton deserve another penalty for Richarlison shirt pull?

Dermot Gallagher dissects the big flashpoints from the weekend's action and discusses whether Everton should have been awarded another penalty against Brentford for a shirt pull on Richarlison? Everton 2-3 Brentford

INCIDENT: Richarlison's shirt is pulled by Brentford defender Kristoffer Ajer in the penalty area directly before Jarrad Branthwaite is sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity at the other end. Should Everton have had a penalty? And would it have meant Braithwaite remained on the pitch?

VERDICT: The VAR has backed the referee, but would also have cleared his decision if he had given a penalty.

DERMOT SAYS: From what I get fed back, they felt that both players were pulling. They felt Richarlison was pulling Ajer's shirt and Ajer was pulling his shirt. I would suggest that if Michael Oliver gave this as a penalty, the VAR would go with him. But because he has this opinion that both players are grappling and don't forget, the referee is relaying back to the VAR what they see. He is of the opinion both players are grappling. If you look, I can understand that to a certain extent.

What happens then, as the play goes on, the VAR checks that off-screen and while they are checking that it goes up field, Branthwaite then gets sent off. So you have this hiatus where he produces a red card, that has to be checked and yes that's OK, then they go back to that and decide no penalty. When they do that Brainthwiate's red card stands. Ironically, if they go back and give the penalty, Branthwaite would have stayed on the field.

When anybody pulls a shirt they are taking a massive risk, but the ref felt Ajer was being pulled as well. That is the vagary of VAR, it has backed the referee here, but if he had given a