Divers Will Not Prosper For Much Longer

It is rare anyone dives nowadays.

I mean it is 2016. All this technology we have access to is clearly being put to good use in the game we all love, and we certainly should not take it for granted.

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I mean look at Palace’s game at home to Liverpool at the weekend. The Eagles who have struggled a little in the first couple of months this year would probably have taken a point against a resurgent Liverpool side before kick off. And that is exactly what they ended up with. A hard fought point.

A point that could be crucial as the season approaches the final stretch in a season where anyone has beaten everyone.

How things could have been different though. A look to the not too distant past and this game could well have finished unfairly.

Former Villa forward Cristian Benteke went down in the box following a ‘challenge’ from Damien Delaney with the scores level at 1-1 deep, deep into injury time.

The Belgian dived. Simple as that.

It was as if someone had took aim with a sniper from somewhere in the stands and shot the man.

Rightly so, a freekick was awarded to Palace and they saw out the draw.

Benteke, who was then booked for diving following his clear theatrics, should really know better than to think he could get away with what he did.

That nonsense has been stamped out. For the good of the game.

Had it not been for the all important video referee though, who knows what might have happened?

A penalty might have been awarded. And then Benteke may well have gotten up and taken the penalty himself, nonchalantly placing the ball in to the corner of the goal before running to celebrate with the travelling support.

What an injustice that would have been.

The home support would have been furious.

You can see why pundits and fans alike barely had any time to talk about actual football in years gone by.

Analysis of patterns of play, on-field battles and managerial tactics barely saw the light of day.

Everything was constantly focused around the often wrongly awarded key decisions.

You can also have forgiven fans of the so-called smaller clubs for feeling like they had been unjustly punished week upon week with all these clearly missed crucial moments.

You could also forgive managers and opposing players such as Alan Pardew and Joe Ledley for labelling players like Cristian Benteke a cheat.

Thankfully though we have left those days behind.

A solid point for Palace on the road to Premier League safety once more.

Thank god for the video referee.

Oh.

Here are the latest round of Premier League results:

Chelsea 1-1 Stoke City – The in form Blues held at home by a good Stoke side pushing for a top six finish.

Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool – The Eagles look to be well on their way after a goal from Ledley and a red card for Milner. We all know what happened next.

Everton 2-3 West Ham United – Lukaku was the villain as had he scored to put the Toffees 3-0 up it would have been tough for the Hammers to come back from. Regardless, excellent fight back to move into fifth place.

Manchester City 4-0 Aston Villa – The bottom club are leaving the top division in fine style but there were little signs on this thrashing in the first forty-five minutes. City back on track to chase the three ahead of them.

Newcastle United 1-3 Bournemouth – An awful Toon succumbed to the South Coast side which looks certain to put Eddie Howe’s men safe.

Southampton 1-1 Sunderland – It all looked so good for Sunderland after taking the lead late on but the Saints had other ideas as van Dijk popped up with the equaliser.

Swansea City 2-1 Norwich City – The six pointer was won by the Welsh club to give themselves breathing space but put the Canaries in real trouble.

Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Arsenal – Entertaining North London derby ended with both sides sharing the spoils with Arsenal no doubt the happier fighting back with ten men.

Watford 0-1 Leicester City – The bubble continues to get stronger for the Foxes rather than looking to burst as so many have been waiting for.

West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Manchester United – Mata saw red and the Baggies took all three points as their rich vein of form continues.