Howard Webb responds to Arsenal complaints after Newcastle VAR controversy

A matter of days after Mikel Arteta and Bukayo Saka were left furious by a VAR call in Arsenal’s narrow victory over Newcastle United, the PGMOL have now responded

PGMOL chief refereeing officer Howard Webb has said the decision to overturn Arsenal’s penalty against Newcastle United was the right call. The north Londoners thought they had a penalty when Magpies’ goalkeeper Nick Pope appeared to bring down Viktor Gyokeres in the 18-yard box.

But after consulting VAR, Premier League referee Jarred Gillet changed his mind after deciding Pope had touched enough of the ball to warrant the decision being overturned. Bukayo Saka was incensed when he watched Gillet U-turn, while Mikel Arteta also blasted the call in his post-match interview.

After watching the incident back, Webb has insisted the refereeing team and VAR got the decision correct. On the Premier League’s Match Officials Mic’d Up show, Webb said: “The VAR checks the penalty.

READ MORE: Premier League confirm two controversial referee decisions after Newcastle vs Arsenal dramaREAD MORE: Arsenal given explanation over controversial VAR call as Bukayo Saka speaks out

“When he does that, he clearly sees that Gyökeres gets to the ball, pokes it a little bit forward but then, importantly, Nick Pope also gets a very clear touch on the ball as he steps forward with that right foot and deviates the direction that the ball is going in. That hadn’t been appreciated on the field by the referee.

“Pope then plants his foot on the ground, he doesn’t drive it forward into Gyökeres. There’s clearly a gap between the two players after Pope has played the ball and then the two players come together quite normally.

“The action by Pope is normal, it’s not reckless, it’s just a kick out towards the ball, the ball deviates, no contact on the player until the ball has been played away and then the contact happens fairly normally so not a foul and therefore a good use of the VAR to intervene to show the referee what really happened.

“I think the deviation is quite clear. You’ll see that touch by Gyökeres, then you’ll see Pope’s right leg come in. It touches the ball, it moves the ball away in a different direction to the direction it was previously going in.

“When he then puts his foot on the ground having made contact with the ball, there’s a separation between him and Gyökeres. There’s no contact at that point. The contact only happens after Pope has played the ball. So, it’s a good challenge by Pope, it’s not a foul.

“There was an important part around this in that the referee didn’t recognise that touch by Pope in real time, hence the reason that when the VAR saw it, he deemed it to be a clear and obvious error. That touch by Pope hadn’t been seen.

“Therefore the referee could go to the screen to look at that really important aspect and make a judgement for himself and that judgement was, ‘Yes, I’ve seen the touch and therefore it’s not a foul and I’m going to start with a dropped ball.'”

Arteta was furious with the decision to change the on-field call, telling the press after the game: “I watched it live and then I watched it on the screen and for me it was a penalty.

“We were instructed very clearly again this season that unless it’s a clear and obvious error the VAR is not going to intervene. It’s not, so that’s my opinion.

“Thank God we found a way to win the game. The team is still emotionally very calm and very composed and that’s a lesson that we took as well probably from a few years ago.”

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