Week eight of the campaign saw the usual mix of good refereeing and odd decision-making. In some cases, the officials made some glaring errors, and perhaps none more so at Portman Road, where Thomas Bramall was charged with overseeing the Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest game.
'Unbelievable'
At just 36 years of age, Bramall is one of the younger referees at the elite level; however, he has been working in that environment since his promotion in 2022, so he should've cut out the regular mistakes by now.
"Once again Thomas Bramall was involved in a big controversial decision," Hackett raged.
"Ipswich's Issa Diop fouled James McAtee as he was running towards the penalty area. Initially, the official didn't even give a free-kick for the challenge, but after being sent over to the screen, he awarded a free-kick and a yellow card, as it was decided that McAtee was running away from goal and therefore didn't satisfy the criteria for DOGSO.
"This was, frankly, unbelievable. McAtee was in possession of the ball, making a run towards his opponent's goal when he was clearly fouled.
"It really didn't require the intervention of VAR (Constantine Hatzidakis), who must've been aware that not dismissing Diop was a clear and obvious error, and one that subsequently impacted the game."
City suffer but Bankes can hold his head high
Man City suffered their first league defeat of the season at Aston Villa, a game in which Nicolas Jackson's two goals were enough for the hosts to earn the three points.
Referee Peter Bankes produced a number of correct yellow cards during the match, but all the fun and games appeared to happen right at the end of stoppage time.
"It's all kicking off on the touchline as well, between Enzo Maresca and some of the Aston Villa coaching staff," Hackett observed.
"At least Peter Bankes delivered a good performance, and was supported well by his colleagues."
Palmer gets lucky
Chris Kavanagh was the man in the middle for what was expected to be a feisty London derby between Chelsea and Tottenham.
However, in the opening 45 minutes at least, it was anything but that.
"The first half saw a lot of passages of play with few chances to score, and, frankly, in a London derby with raised expectations, you would expect to see more challenges and conflict," Hackett noted.
"Over 60 minutes in, and in this London derby, there wasn't a card shown."
Things did appear to heat up thereafter, as ex-Chelsea man Conor Gallagher was deservedly carded for a foul, and then the fun really began.
"A few yellow cards were issued following a mass confrontation," Hackett said. "One to Micky Van De Ven for arguing with the referee, one to Mateus Fernandes for the foul on Cole Palmer and one to Palmer for his reaction when he kneed Fernandes as he got up.
"Palmer really should've been shown a straight red card for that off-the-ball act of violent conduct. His opponent was literally on his knees when Palmer came piling in, and I'm disappointed that there was no action taken by VAR, John Brooks.
"The yellow card was a clear and obvious error, but later in the game, we saw Palmer correctly shown a second yellow card followed by a red, after another petulant act of violence on the football pitch."
Great work from Tony Harrington and Paul Tierney
With Man City having succumbed at Villa Park, Arsenal had the chance to draw level at the top of the Premier League table with a win, and that's exactly what happened against Everton at the Emirates Stadium.
"There wasn't an awful lot for referee Tony Harrington to concern himself with in this one," Hackett added.
"Myles Lewis-Skelly pulled down Brennan Johnson and was correctly shown a yellow card, as was one of Arsenal's first-team coaches, Gabriel Heinze, late in the game."
In the Crystal Palace vs Newcastle game, Paul Tierney and his VAR, Darren England, got a few decisions spot on.
"Nico Gonzalez is correctly yellow-carded for a push on Dwight McNeil when he'd gone past him. An act of unsporting behaviour stopping a promising attack," Hackett noted.
"Joe Willock looked to have doubled Newcastle's lead later in the game, but VAR correctly disallowed it for offside.
"Also, there are times in a game where you might disagree with the official's decision, but you must display self-control. Yeremy Pino was therefore rightly booked for dissent."
Quality
Robert Jones got the major talking point in the Hull City vs Brentford game correct when he awarded the hosts a penalty after the visitors got in all sorts of trouble when trying to pass out the ball from the back, and Aaron Hickey brought down Tim Iroegbunam.
At the Liverpool vs Brighton fixture, Samuel Barrott continued to make his mark as an official of real quality.
"Florian Wirtz opened the scoring for Liverpool, but in-form referee Samuel Barrott applied two excellent advantages in the build-up to the goal," Hackett enthused.
"A very confident and efficient referee, and one of the best at PRO Ref currently."
Jarred Gillett didn't add to Man Utd's woes
At Old Trafford, Jarred Gillett and his team of officials will have been aware ahead of the game as to what type of atmosphere they would be walking into, given Man Utd's poor recent form. That they delivered a top-class performance is to their immense credit.
"Ayden Heaven went into the referee's book for lunging in two-footed towards Evanilson," Hackett observed. "This is the type of challenge where you launch yourself off the ground with one or two feet forward out of control, which can easily result in a red card.
"He's lucky Jarred Gillett determined that there was no malice in the challenge, which failed to reach the criteria for serious foul play.
"Well done to referee Gillett for that decision, and also for later in the game when a Bournemouth substitution was taking too long, and he rightly instructed the replacement substitute to stay off for a minimum of one minute or until the next break in play."
Attwell's tiredness
The final game on Sunday saw Sunderland host Leeds United, and the commitment of the man in the middle might've been lost on those in the stadium. One decision also brought his judgment into question and raised a discussion point regarding distances between games on the same weekend, and how a potentially tired official would react.
"This was certainly a busy weekend for referee Stuart Attwell, who was at Stockley Park and sat in the VAR chair for the Arsenal v Everton game on Saturday, before a long journey to the North East to make an early judgment that the game could go ahead despite the reported storm," Hackett said.
"The one controversial decision in the first half was when Dominic Calvert-Lewin, in possession of the ball, was making a run directly towards his opponent's goal and he was fouled. The referee waved away appeals, but frankly he was wrong. It was a clear foul.
"I was surprised that VAR didn't intervene so that referee Attwell could take another look at what was a possible Denial of an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO).
"The match was a scrappy affair where the windy conditions clearly weren't helping the flow of the game. Referee Attwell at least worked hard, talking to the players and rightly allowing for the difficult conditions."