Speaking on Sky Sports, former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has revealed that Dan Burn’s pull on Gabriel was not given as a penalty because VAR didn’t believe Andy Madley made a ‘clear and obvious error’.
During our 0-0 draw against Arsenal, the home fans, as well as Mikel Arteta, were enraged that they weren’t awarded a penalty for the pull on Gabriel’s shirt.
The Gunners boss even went as far as calling it a ‘scandalous’ decision and was very visibly upset on the sideline – although he somehow escaped a booking himself.
Gallagher explained on the show how the decision could go either way, but in the instance that there is no obvious error by the referee, VAR are inclined to side with the on-field decision.
However, prior to this incident, Joelinton was penalised for a ‘foul’ on Bukayo Saka when in reality he won the ball – so we shouldn’t even be talking about the potential penalty in the first place.
The former referee also stated that Madley was ‘definitely’ right not to give a penalty for a potential handball in the last minute, as Jacob Murphy was in a ‘natural position’ when the ball struck his hand.
See the clip below:
