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Former referee Mark Clattenburg blasts 'LAZY' standards of Premier League officials - and claims they are being saved by 'the luxury of VAR'

Referees' bosses have been told to improve their ‘lazy’ standards after Anthony Taylor fell for a dive during Nottingham Forest’s 3-2 win over Southampton.

Former referee Mark Clattenburg told Mail Sport he has noticed a decline in referees’ positioning and believes that complacency is a consequence of knowing VAR is there to back them up.

Forest were penalised when Southampton’s Mateus Fernandes threw himself to the floor with Morgan Gibbs-White a yard away. They also had a Nikola Milenkovic goal ruled out for a subjective offside.

Clattenburg said: ‘Laziness has crept into refereeing.