Michael Oliver worked perfectly with VAR to reach the correct verdict on Jean-Philippe Mateta's red card against Tottenham Hotspur.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insiderthat the Crystal Palace striker's sending-off was definitely the right call.
Just 13 minutes into the clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, 31 October, Pierre Sage's side were reduced to 10 men.
In a rather inexplicable moment, Mateta launched himself at Micky van de Ven, who had beaten him to the ball and fired a pass back to his goalkeeper.
The challenge caught Van de Ven extremely high, and Mateta was potentially fortunate not to have caused his opposition some real damage.
Oliver had originally only shown a yellow card to the guilty party, but after being ushered over to the pitchside monitor, it was an easy decision to upgrade it to a red.
Michael Oliver is 'at the very highest level'
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Hackett was a real fan of how the incident unfolded between the officials, with no doubt over the red card.
"Referees at the very highest level and very experienced referees are very clever. I think he's unsure in his own mind," he said.
"On that viewing, he hasn't got a picture that says, 'That's a nailed-on red'. If referees do want it to be absolutely nailed-on, and it should be for a red, then the option is a yellow.
"Then VAR was brilliant on this occasion. I think VAR rightly came in. Now Oliver has a different angle to look at and that's how it comes to the red.
"For me, this is a perfect example of why we have VAR. Confidence from Oliver in his VAR, and the VAR is confident that he sees that as a red and he wants Michael Oliver to have a look.
"He's seeing it as a clear and obvious error. So I thought that was frankly one of the better pieces of refereeing this weekend."
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An early red card is exactly what Roberto De Zerbi's side needed against the Eagles, with victory taking them up to eighth in the league table.
Spurs are now just three points off fifth-place Liverpool, which seemed unimaginable just a few games ago.
There were a lot of positives to take from this game, one of them being Luca Williams-Barnett being given a chance to shine off the bench.
And the youngster certainly took his opportunity, with former Spurs scout Bryan King mesmerised by the attacking midfielder's cameo.
