Tottenham vs Nottingham Forest ref watch: Three Michael Oliver errors including Pape Matar Sarr incident

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Credit: Imago Sun 22 March 2026 16:14, UK Tottenham Hotspur fell to yet another Premier League defeat as Nottingham Forest won 3-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.Pressure on Igor Tudor has increased yet again as Spurs fell down to 17th in the table, with the manager still hunting for his first Premier League win.Goals from Igor Jesus, Morgan Gibbs-White and Taiwo Awoniyi proved to be enough to secure a victory for the visitors as they leapfrogged them in the table.However, there were plenty of contentious decisions throughout, which no doubt infuriated Tottenham.Below, Football Insider has examined Michael Oliver’s performance in a damning Tottenham defeat. MORE FOOTBALL INSIDER STORIES Tottenham should have been awarded early penaltyIn an intense opening exchange, Tottenham will have felt aggrieved to not be awarded a penalty.The ball was loose inside Forest’s box and Pape Matar Sarr looked to take control.Match stats Tottenham Nottingham ForestPossession 58.4%41.6%Shots148Shots on target37Corners 133Touches in opposition box2616Tottenham simply did not create enough against Nottingham ForestHowever, just when he reached the ball, Ola Aina challenged, with his boot making contact with the Spurs star.This resulted in the midfielder going down, before he quickly got back up to try and regain possession.As a result, the referee decided not to award a penalty, even though the Forest player did not win the ball in the challenge.Just because Sarr did not stay down, it does not mean that it shouldn’t have been a penalty, and Tottenham fans will rightly feel annoyed by the decision.Michael Oliver misses two obvious yellow cardsShortly after the penalty claim, Oliver somehow kept his cards in his pocket for a series of poor challenges by both Tottenham and Forest.First off, Ibrahim Sangare performed a nasty challenge on Mathys Tel, which results in the Spurs star going to ground in pain.Moments later, Archie Gray slides in recklessly on Sangare, taking both players out in the process.Yet, Oliver did not book anyone for this series of events in a baffling decision.At least two yellow cards should have been dished out, and instead, none were delivered.Nottingham Forest timewasting goes unpunished Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Keith Hackett has previously complained about timewasting in the Premier League, and this was in full flow on Sunday.After Forest took the lead, they were keen to keep hold of it.As a result, any chance for them to wind down the clock was taken, whether it would be taking longer on free-kicks, corners or goal-kicks.Yet, Oliver did little to combat this, with no bookings being given before the visitors netted their third.While it would have likely done little to change the result, it helped kill any chance Spurs had of changing the scoreline in their favour.

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