On Sunday afternoon in the Premier League, West Ham United hosts Crystal Palace at the London Stadium.
While Roy Hodgson of Crystal Palace will be eager to see his team improve on their recent run of just one win and four losses in their last five league games, David Moyes of West Ham will be desperate for his team to win three straight Premier League games.
A victory would put the Hammers, who presently occupy ninth place in the standings, squarely in the running for a top six finish this season.
West Ham’s season has been very up and down, but a win this weekend would indicate some serious development.
We have every right to defeat the South London team, especially considering that Eberechi Eze and Cheick Doucoure will be sidelined by injuries.
But this weekend, we have one major issue that we will be dealing with.
Unfavourable news prior to Crystal Palace vs. West Ham Premier League matchup
The Premier League’s official website has confirmed that Peter Bankes will be the lead video assistant referee for this week’s matchup against Palace.
We have very bad news about that.
Bankes has a long history with the Hammers. Most recently, he managed one of our games during our 2-2 draw with Newcastle last month. If Bankes had even played up to a respectable level, the outcome could have been very different.
In transition, Bruno Guimaraes tripped Jarrod Bowen, but Bankes declined to give him a second yellow card. In addition, he neglected to report Jamaal Lascelles for pushing Lucas Paqueta in the head.
Then, astonishingly, the 41-year-old chose not to give Miguel Almiron a yellow card when he motioned for him to give a booking to a Hammers player—an offence for which Emerson Palmieri had already received a yellow earlier in the game!
And that was just in the first 30 minutes! Then, in the second half, Bankes gave Newcastle a free kick after Paqueta had justly taken Sandro Tonali’s position. Then, from that set play, the Magpies scored.
During our season-ending 2-1 loss to Brentford in 2021–2022, he officiated and gave one of the worst performances any London Stadium referee has ever seen.
During our 1-1 draw at the London Stadium last season, Bankes also gave Tottenham the wrong penalty, which VAR later overturned.
The 41-year-old refereed our draw against Southampton at St. Mary’s last term. After the game, the players surrounded the referee, and we were charged by the FA. This happened right before Southampton scored, when Bankes pitifully prevented Jarrod Bowen from intercepting a player.
Besides all of that, two seasons ago at the Emirates, Bankes was on VAR duty when Anthony Taylor gave Arsenal a ridiculously soft penalty, even though Vladimir Coufal had actually won the ball.
During our home match against Chelsea a few years ago, Fabian Balbuena received a ridiculous red card from the Premier League referee who was using video assistant replays. It was one of the worst decisions I have ever witnessed in my life.
Peter Bankes’s record for West Ham
Surprisingly, we have only won three of the ten games the 41-year-old has managed for us (Transfermarkt).
We are extremely disappointed to learn that Peter Bankes will be using VAR during West Ham vs. Crystal Palace in the Premier League. Let’s just hope that this weekend he doesn’t add any more mistakes to his long list.
The 41-year-old appears to be an official who enjoys taking centre stage at all events. Therefore, if he attempts to do the same on Sunday, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.
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