Arsenal's game against Leeds United certainly wasn't short of talking points or controversy. The Gunners went four points clear at the top of the Premier League table thanks to Bukayo Saka scoring the only goal of the match, but they had to survive a number of second half scares.
Patrick Bamford had a goal disallowed just a minute after the half time interval, he then missed a penalty 17 minutes later, before he was involved in another controversial incident in stoppage-time. Referee Chris Kavanagh awarded a penalty after Gunners defender Gabriel Magalhaes appeared to kick out at Bamford in the box, with Kavanagh also giving the Brazilian his marching orders.
However, after a VAR check, the penalty wasn't awarded as Bamford had initially pushed Gabriel, so a free-kick was awarded Arsenal's way instead. Gabriel's red card was also overturned, with the 24-year-old shown a yellow instead for raising his boot in his challenge with Bamford.
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Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher believes Kavanagh and VAR came to the correct decision to not award a penalty and to not send off Gabriel. He said that the Arsenal centre-back was petulant and reckless in his actions, but not violent.
"I think it’s really interesting because the referee doesn’t give anything, but the assistant says 'I think he’s kicked out violently', so he’s given a penalty and a red card," Gallagher told Sky Sports News. "You see that’s quite clearly a foul, the leg comes up.
"It’s petulant, unsporting, but it’s not violent. I think the right decision has been arisen up. Without that Arsenal could’ve possibly lost two points and they’d have lost a player for three matches.
"I think it’s petulant, reckless at worst, but it’s not violent for me. It was a free-kick to Arsenal because the first foul was by Bamford. It’d be very unfair to have a centre-back serving a three-match ban for something that wasn’t an act of violent conduct."
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