The Premier League’s Independent Key Match Incidents Panel has ruled that referee Stuart Attwell and VAR were correct in their decision to award Newcastle’s winning goal against Arsenal on Saturday.
Mikel Arteta launched a scathing attack on the standard of officiating in the Premier League after Anthony Gordon’s controversial goal was allowed to stand at St James’ Park.
Gordon’s 64th-minute strike was checked by VAR for over four minutes with the ball having potentially run out of play and there were further checks for a foul from Joelinton and a tight offside call.
The Gunners were furious with the decision and released a statement backing up Arteta’s comments on Sunday.
The panel’s findings, first seen by ESPN, 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”, while upholding the view that there was not enough evidence to rule the goal out on the other two offences.
Made up of five members, three of which are former players and/or coaches plus one representative each from the Premier League and PGMOL, the panel was created to give an independent assessment of decision-making instead of relying on the views of PGMOL or the clubs themselves.
It also added the officials missed two red cards.
Kai Havertz’s tackle on Sean Longstaff was found to be “a very dangerous challenge and the type of tackle that needs to be eradicated”, while they also believe Bruno Guimaraes should have been dismissed for an arm to the head of Jorginho.
The Football Association (FA) have written to both Arteta and Arsenal to seek their observations following their comments after the game.
