Manchester United failed in its bid to overturn the red card shown to Lisandro Martínez in the Premier League defeat to Leeds United. The club lodged an appeal against the dismissal found on VAR review, but the FA’s regulatory commission has confirmed the appeal was unsuccessful and Martínez will serve the three-match suspension originally imposed.

After the game, Michael Carrick was blunt in his assessment of the decision. “That decision was one of the worst I’ve ever seen,” Carrick fumed after the game. “[Calvert-Lewin] can throw his arms in Licha’s face—and then he’s sent off. Shocking. I don’t even know what it looks like. It’s not a pull, it’s not a tug, it’s not aggressive. He touches [the hair] and he gets sent off. We have got to be careful where the game is going. It is a shocking decision, absolutely shocking.” Carrick later reiterated his view but declined to expand: “It’s obvious how I felt after the game, and I still feel that way now. I don’t want to go into it now. It is what it is. We have to accept it and move on.”

The club secretary’s letter, dated two days after the match, “set out in detail” why United believed the dismissal was wrongful and that the standard punishment would be “clearly excessive.” United included three videos with the appeal: one of the full incident between Calvert-Lewin and Martínez, one showing contact made on Leny Yoro during the same match, and footage of a February hair-pulling incident involving Kenny Tete for which a sending off did not follow.

The presiding commission, made up of former referee Steve Bennett, former Premier League champion Stuart Ripley and ex-defender Francis Benali, found unanimously that there was no “obvious error” by the match officials. The judgement stated: “The pulling of a person’s hair can be interpreted to fall outside the normal constituent elements of a challenge in football and can therefore fall into the category of violent conduct. The commission did not feel that it could be said with any confidence that the force exerted by [Lisandro Martínez] on [Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s] hair/scalp was negligible.” The panel said Martínez “grasped” the hair and Calvert-Lewin’s reaction “suggested that he had felt a certain amount of force exerted upon his hair/scalp.” It concluded “it was not outside the parameters of reasonableness for the Referee to have interpreted the VAR footage in the way that he did and he could not, therefore, be said to have made an obvious error.”

The commission added that although hair pulling is low on the violent conduct scale it “ought not to be tolerated” and “should be discouraged through consistent punishment.” Martínez has served the first match of the ban and will miss the Premier League games with Brentford (April 27) and Liverpool (May 3); he will be eligible to return at Sunderland on May 9. The suspension might have been more disastrous had events unfolded slightly differently.

Gameweek 33 delivered decisive swings at both ends of the table and several standout individual displays. FotMob’s ratings identify nine players who shaped the round across a series of key matches.

Curtis Jones (rating 8.4) was deployed at right back by Arne Slot in the Merseyside derby and responded with a dominant defensive and possession performance. Jones recorded 28 defensive contributions, more than double any other player on the pitch, while also leading the match for touches (118), attempted passes (84) and completed passes (79). He emerged from his duel with Iliman Ndiaye unscathed.

Erling Haaland (8.4) produced the goal that pulled Manchester City back into the title race. The Norway forward played the full game despite heavy attention from Arsenal defenders William Saliba and Gabriel, endured his undershirt being ripped and an attempted headbutt, and finished with a memorable smirk at the camera after the final whistle.

Jaydee Canvot (8.4) has taken on greater responsibility since Marc Guéhi’s mid-season exit and impressed again in Crystal Palace’s draw with West Ham United. Canvot frequently won his confrontations with Jarrod Bowen and showed notable composure on the ball, repeatedly stepping into midfield to drive his team forward.

Leeds United produced three of the week’s top performers. Noah Okafor (8.5), 25 years old, forced an early advantage by assisting Leeds’ opener and then scoring the second inside the opening 20 minutes. Dominic Calvert-Lewin (8.6) sealed the win with a 95th-minute penalty after a game in which he was disruptive both on the ground and in the air and likely had earlier chances to score. James Justin (8.7) opened the scoring with an acrobatic overhead kick and combined attacking impact with a team-leading 17 defensive contributions.

Xavi Simons (8.7) stood out in Tottenham Hotspur’s 2–2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion, leaving the match with a goal and an assist, celebrating his stunning strike with real emotion before the late equaliser.

Elsewhere the round brought relegation heartbreak for Tottenham Hotspur and confirmation of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ tumble out of the top flight, emphasising the high stakes of Gameweek 33.

More dropped points for Tottenham Hotspur have left Roberto De Zerbi’s men in the drop zone, clinging to life in the Premier League alongside West Ham United, Nottingham Forest and Leeds United. Safety remains within reach, but the final month promises decisive swings depending on form and fixtures.

Leeds sit 15th after a thumping 3–0 win over Wolves, a result that all but condemned Rob Edwards’s side to the Championship. For the three clubs below them, a strong finish is essential if they are to avoid joining that fate.

Standing points: Tottenham 31, West Ham 32, Nott’m Forest 33, Leeds 39.

Tottenham (remaining): Wolves (A) – April 25; Aston Villa (A) – May 3; Leeds (H) – May 11; Chelsea (A) – May 17; Everton (H) – May 24. Despite troubling form, Spurs will like their odds against Wolves. Three points there are a necessity before a trip to Villa Park. The home game with Leeds could prove pivotal; dropped points would leave Chelsea and Everton on the docket to decide Spurs’ fate.

West Ham (remaining): Crystal Palace (A) – April 20; Everton (H) – April 25; Brentford (A) – May 2; Arsenal (H) – May 10; Newcastle (A) – May 17; Leeds (A) – May 24. West Ham get extra days to prepare for Crystal Palace and will need their best form across fixtures against Everton and Brentford. With league leaders Arsenal ahead and a trip to St James’ Park one week later, the Hammers must channel results to stay clear.

Nottingham Forest (remaining): Burnley (H) – April 19; Sunderland (A) – April 24; Chelsea (A) – May 4. Europa League matches against Aston Villa come between domestic fixtures. After the second leg of the semifinals, Vítor Pereira’s men return to take on Newcastle, then travel to Old Trafford on the second-to-last matchday before hosting Bournemouth on May 24.

Leeds (remaining): Bournemouth (A) is the biggest remaining challenge; their final stretch otherwise avoids the league’s top teams. How each of these schedules plays out in the closing weeks will determine who secures safety and who faces relegation.