Referee Mike Dean appeared to wheel away in celebration as Mousa Dembele gave Tottenham an early lead against Aston Villa on Monday night.
The 47-year-old was in fact playing advantage as Ciaran Clark clambered over the back of the Belgium international in the build-up to the opening goal at White Hart Lane.
But the enthusiastic manner with which Dean turned towards the centre circle, gesturing a goal, led to tongue-in-cheek allegations on social media that the man in yellow had lumped money on Dembele to score first.
And it is not the first time the Premier League official has been criticised for his zeal following a Tottenham goal.
Player Ratings: Tottenham vs Aston Villa
The official was put in charge of Arsenal's Premier League match with Spurs in 2012 and appeared to jump around when Louis Saha's wickedly deflected effort deceived Wojciech Szczesny and gave Spurs an early lead at Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners fought back from two down to sink their bitter rivals 5-2 on that ocassion, but supporters still questioned referee's actions.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Mike Dean appears worryingly happy about the first goal! <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/Q6Dq1SlHGT" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3105311-https://t.co/Q6Dq1SlHGT" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/Q6Dq1SlHGT</a> — Matchbook.com (@TeamMatchBook) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/TeamMatchBook/status/661273783559434240" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3105311-https://twitter.com/TeamMatchBook/status/661273783559434240" data-vars-event-id="c23">November 2, 2015</a>
