Ref Watch - Anthony Taylor Wrong to Award Chelsea and Manchester City Penalties

Cole Palmer fired an outstanding injury-time penalty to seal a point for Chelsea against former club Manchester City. It was an exciting match from start to finish and this result was fitting at its conclusion.

Erling Haaland gave City an intriguing advantage with his first-half penalty kick, appearing to tangle with Marc Cucurella before being brought down and brought down himself. VAR reviewed the incident but didn't revoke or postpone the goal for further review.

Stopwatch

Referee watches come equipped with stopwatch features to assist referees in keeping track of time during a game. They allow referees to quickly check game time remaining and injury time calculations; plus set countdown times that automatically alarm at the end of every period.

Paul Heckingbottom has strongly criticised VAR after seeing his Sheffield United side denied a penalty against Chelsea after Kostas Tsimikas was tackled by Jarrad Branthwaite and Jarrad Branthwaite caught his thigh with Jarrad Branthwaite's arm. Heckingbottom suggested using VAR only for offside decisions but this approach does not seem likely to help solve controversial calls in any meaningful way.

VAR becomes useless if its users can't make sound decisions when using it. Officials should take greater care in selecting situations for review, and make clear to fans and players what needs a second glance or does not.

Countdown timer

Referee watches are among the most essential pieces of equipment they use during games. Even in high school and college games that don't keep time on the scoreboard, FIFA rules require that center referees wear watches that feature countdown timers to ensure they don't run out of time. While some referees prefer digital watches with stopwatch features, others have found more success using watches with countdown timer features instead.

Cole Palmer scored late to deny Manchester City their title hopes in Monday's 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge. Former City striker Palmer received his spot kick after Marc Cucurella appeared to foul Erling Haaland in the box; however, replays revealed no clear offense from Cucurella against Haaland. This incident came amid widespread VAR debate in the Premier League over the weekend; Mikel Arteta believes a countdown timer may help address inconsistencies with VAR reviews.

GPS

Chelsea and Manchester City played out one of the greatest Premier League encounters of 2016, but not without controversy. Referee Anthony Taylor had recently been demoted from Premiership referee status after awarding Wolves an incorrect soft penalty award and made another error when awarding City player Erling Haaland a spot-kick for Marc Cucurella's tackle against him.

Other features

The best referee watches offer multiple functions on one screen that work in tandem, such as an elapsed playing time clock, countdown game clock and halftime/period timer. Furthermore, many come equipped with an injured time feature which allows refs to add extra time onto their countdown when players leave the field.

Your choice of referee watch should depend on the game you are officiating. For example, high school refereeing requires a watch with stopwatch capability as fast-paced games require quick responses and may necessitate immediate timing updates.

VAR was at the forefront of controversy during this weekend's Premier League action, being used to award penalties to Chelsea and Man City while being used to uphold yellow cards against Wolves' Romain Saiss for an illegal tackle on Cole Palmer that could have lead to his red card; VAR upheld its decision after reviewing.