Panel Affirms Verdict Regarding Newcastle’s Goal Against Arsenal
The Independent Key Match Incidents Panel of the Premier League has affirmed the correctness of referee Stuart Attwell and VAR officials in awarding Newcastle United’s winning goal against Arsenal on Saturday. ESPN reported that the panel acknowledged the officials’ oversight of two potential red cards.
Mikel Arteta, Arsenal’s manager, expressed frustration as Anthony Gordon’s winning goal stood despite three VAR checks. The checks involved reviewing the ball being out of play, a foul on Gabriel by Joelinton, and offside against the goal scorer. However, VAR, led by Andy Madley, couldn’t find conclusive evidence of an offense in any of the three instances.
The panel’s findings now state that “although Joelinton does have his hands on Gabriel, there isn’t enough to award a foul as Gabriel had made an action to play the ball before any contact.”
Despite this, the panel unanimously agreed that Kai Havertz should have been sent off for Arsenal in the 36th minute for his challenge on Sean Longstaff. Additionally, Bruno Guimarães’ arm to the head of Arsenal’s Jorginho in the 45th minute was identified as another missed red card.
