Arsenal believed they should have been awarded a penalty during their match against Everton after Kai Havertz appeared to have his leg clipped by Michael Keane inside the penalty area.
The referee allowed play to continue, a decision that immediately drew reactions from Arsenal’s players and supporters. Many expected the Video Assistant Referee to intervene by either sending the referee to the pitch side monitor or recommending that a penalty be awarded.
However, no such intervention occurred, and the match continued without a spot kick being given. The decision left many Arsenal supporters frustrated at the time, particularly given the importance of the fixture.
Premier League Explains Decision
Following the incident, an explanation was provided regarding the decision not to award a penalty. As reported by the Metro, the Premier League clarified the reasoning behind the call.
They explained: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Arsenal was checked and confirmed by VAR, with the contact from Keane on Havertz deemed to be minimal.”
The statement indicates that the incident was reviewed by VAR officials, who concluded that the level of contact between the players was not sufficient to justify overturning the referee’s on-field decision.
Arsenal Move On From Controversy
Over the past few seasons, including the current campaign, some Arsenal supporters have felt that certain decisions have gone against their team. These moments have occasionally led to claims that the club has been treated unfairly during key matches.
In this particular situation, however, the contact between Havertz and Keane did not appear to be especially significant, which may explain why VAR chose not to intervene.
Despite the disappointment surrounding the decision, Arsenal ultimately managed to secure the result they needed. The team will likely take encouragement from the fact that they were able to find a way to win the match even without the penalty being awarded.
Moving forward, the focus will remain on maintaining their winning momentum and continuing to create and convert chances from open play, where the team has greater control over the outcome.
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This one I think they got totally wrong. No blame on the ref for not seeing the contact – it’s very hard to see in real time, even in replays – but that’s what var is for, they can look again and see why havertz went down. Everton player trod on his foot, which is significant contact. Not intentional, but it’s a clear foul
Why else would he go down when clear in on goal?
Many of us will disagree with the officials’ call, manly because Harvetz was not merely clipped, but Keane was shoving at the same time that he clipped Harvertz. This is why the VAR assistant shouldn’t just have dismissed the call. It’s still one of those unfair judgements that we are used to.
I suspect they looked at the upper body contact and assumed that’s all there was – if it was just that, I’d agree with them, but I don’t think they noticed the contact on the ground. Like HD said, they didn’t look at it properly
If they did that then they are pathetic how can you not check properly for a contact when an attacker is through on goal but can take minutes to review our goal. It’s either gross incompetence or deliberate negligence in either case Atwell should be banned from our matches as he has shown numerous time to be biased.
😂😂
For VAR to dismiss the penalty claim so quickly obviously means they didn’t look at it properly.
VAR (stuat atwell) had no intention of looking at it, for fear that it could very well be a penalty!
It was a deliberate negligence!!
Because it’s Stuart Atwell. Stuart Atwell is one of the cabal of refs that wants Arsenal to fail. Kavanagh, .Cook, Tierney, England, and of course Michael Bloody Oliver
The VAR need to prioritize on scrutinizing such incidents during all matches.
If it was…”minimal contact ” , it was enough to take down our player. It was a definite penalty. The ref did not see it in real time….the least that should have happened was a monitor review . If the game had been drawn or lost , I would be freaking out !! Yet another …talking point….