Fabian Hurzeler calls for decisive ruling on goalkeeper treatment at set-pieces

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler has called on the game’s rule makers to come up with a decisive ruling on how goalkeepers are treated at set-pieces.

Hurzeler was annoyed at a decision which went against his side during the 2-2 draw at Aston Villa on Monday night, where Tariq Lamptey earned a point after Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers had overturned Simon Adingra’s early opener.

The German felt Bart Verbruggen was impeded at corner which he flapped at immediately before Villa won a first-half penalty after a lengthy VAR check.

It comes a day after a Crystal Palace goal was allowed to stand despite Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale coming under heavy pressure.

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Hurzeler said: “In the end, you can give the penalty but you can’t not give the foul on Bart.

“When it continues like this, you see it every weekend the blocking goalkeeper – if the Premier League doesn’t find a clear rule it will end in a different sport.

“In a normal game when a player is blocked when the ball is not near from him, it’s always a foul, so I don’t understand why it’s not a foul, they have to find an answer.

“It can be part of the game, but it should be a clear rule as to what is allowed and what isn’t.

“When it happens during the game you always get a foul in the midfield if you’re blocked, so why not blocked on a set-piece?

“There are two different ways to handle it, why not do the same thing?

“At one point two or three players will stand round the keepers and block him, or the Premier League can come up with a clear rule because it’s not acceptable.”

Villa ended a hugely successful 2024 with a disappointing result as they failed to close the gap on the Premier League’s top four.

Unai Emery’s men started the year by reaching a Europa Conference League semi-final and qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in their history.

But their ambitions of finishing in the top four again look to be hamstrung by inconsistency which has produced results like this.

Boss Emery said: “I think we deserved to win and we played more or less in the same form we played in the last match at home, but sometimes it is not enough like tonight.

“We have to accept it. Our overall thinking how we are finishing the year, of course we have to be proud of everything we did.

“Now we have 29 points, with 31 we were closer to be in the European positions. We have to accept it and try to start again improving things.

“We finish the first part of the season with 29 points, it’s not the best but not the worst.

“This league is very tight and we have to try to improve and correct why we are conceding a lot of goals.”