Referee and assistant stood down after FA Cup mistakes.

Referee Chris Kavanagh and his helper Nick Greenhalgh have been left out of this weekend’s Premier League game.

The two faced widespread criticism for their decisions in Saturday’s fourth-round FA Cup match between Aston Villa and Newcastle United, which lacked a video assistance referee.

VAR will not be implemented until the fifth round. Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO), the referees’ governing body, based its selections on variables such as post-match performance assessments done by an independent Key Match Incidents panel, which ensures officials’ accountability.

Among the mistakes were Kavanagh and Greenhalgh’s blatant offside against Tammy Abraham, who scored Villa’s first goal.

Lucas Digne might have received a red card for a challenge on Jacob Murphy, as well as a questionable offside against Dan Burn on Newcastle’s equaliser. The Digne non-penalty judgement, however, left most stunned.

The Villa full-back was two yards within the penalty area when he was punished for a handball, but Kavanagh and Greenhalgh determined the offence was a yard outside the area and gave a free kick, which Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali converted in the 63rd minute.

Wayne Rooney stated on Match of the Day that it was “one of the worst decisions I have ever seen”.

Despite the criticism, Kavanagh is well regarded, and in December he was promoted to Uefa’s elite list of referees, alongside Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor.

Gary Beswick, the other assistant at Villa Park, has been sent to Nottingham Forest’s match against Liverpool on Sunday.

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