Referee who Forest boss felt lost 'control' against Brighton will take Luton's trip to Brentford

Luton’s first ever top flight trip to Brentford this weekend will be taken by referee Anthony Taylor, who was accused of losing ‘control’ during Nottingham Forest's 3-2 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.

The 45-year-old gave a penalty to the Seagulls in the second half at the City Ground when Chris Wood was deemed to have hauled back Joao Pedro inside the area.

He then didn’t give a similar offence at the other end after Callum Hudson-Odoi went to ground under a challenge from Jack Hinshelwood, although reversed his decision after being sent to the VAR screen.

Taylor also sent off Brighton skipper Lewis Dunk, showing the England international two yellows in the space of 30 seconds, for his dissent regarding the decision, in a game that saw Forest boss Steve Cooper hugely critical of the official's performance.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, he said: “It would be easy for me to hide behind an awful penalty decision but I’m not going to hide behind that - as bad as it was - because we’ve got to play better than we did in the first half.

“The decision for the penalty is one where, for me, if that is a penalty then you are going to give so many.

"I’m really trying to think about how I want to be in the camp of supporting referees and helping the process. It is clearly having a massive negative impact on our game at the moment.

“I’m trying to say to myself, let’s not jump on the bandwagon, let’s try to be rational with how we think and our comments. But then we see that from Anthony, one of the top ones, and it’s hard to hold back.

“To think he’s given that penalty and then missed the one which got overturned, caused the animosity on the pitch and in the stadium. It’s where we’re at at the moment.

“He’s such a calm and composed and clear referee. You see the games he gets, not just in our country but outside as well. Did he lose control? He must have.”

Taylor has had one Luton game so far this season, the Hatters’ 2-1 win at Everton back in September.

That was one of his 20 matches in total, as he has brandished 101 yellow cards and four reds, taking Champions League and Europa League encounters, plus four international fixtures as well.

Taylor has shown two red cards in his last two matches, as before the Dunk incident, he dismissed Switzerland’s Edimilson Fernandes in the 1-1 Euro 2024 qualifying draw in Israel.

During his 17-year career, the official has refereed the Hatters on another four occasions, Town winning once, losing once and drawing the other two.

His assistants at the Gtech Stadium are Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn, with the fourth official Robert Madley. VAR official is Andy Madley, with his assistant Marc Perry.