Forer Premier League referee Keith Hackett has claimed that Newcastle should have had a clear penalty against Arsenal this weekend.
The Gunners won the match 2-0, with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli’s goals securing the three points for the home side, but Hackett believes the fixture should have played out differently.
The Toon were supposedly denied a clear penalty in the first half, when the score was still tied at 0-0, and he appears to have been shocked that Newcastle were denied the penalty by both the referee and VAR.
Hackett told the Football Insider: “He has wrapped his arms around his opponent and spun his opponent inside the penalty area.
You say to yourself ‘Where’s VAR? Darren England, why hasn’t he come in and helped Stuart Atwell?’
“For me, that was a penalty kick, I’m clear about that.”
He then claimed that this incident will convince Odegaard to repeat his actions again in another fixture.
“He’s not got punished at the weekend so what’s going to happen in midweek and the weekend after? This player is going to do the same because he’s got away with it.”
I don’t think Odegaard is that type of player to be fair to him. I think Hackett may be over-reacting a little by claiming he will simply do the same thing again, although how many players are penalised over and over for the same thing?
Clearly the incident wasn’t clear-cut if two other referees didn’t deem it as so…
Patrick