The Premier League’s Independent Key Match Incidents Panel has agreed that referee Stuart Attwell and the VAR officials were correct to award Newcastle United’s winning goal against Arsenal on Saturday. According to some news outlets, the panel, however, noted that the officials missed two red cards.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was left fuming after Anthony Gordon’s winning goal was allowed to stand following three separate VAR checks.
VAR reviewed the ball being out of play, a foul on Gabriel by Joelinton, and offside against the goal scorer. On all three checks the VAR, Andy Madley, could not find conclusive evidence of an offence.
The panel’s findings have now said “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.”
However, the panel was unanimous that Kai Havertz should have been sent off for Arsenal in the 36th minute for his challenge on Sean Longstaff, while Bruno Guimarães’ arm to the head of Arsenal’s Jorginho in the 45th minute was also a missed red card.
