Mark Clattenburg has rethought his opinion on Arsenal’s overturned penalty during the Premier League win over Fulham.
Bukayo Saka was faultless against Fulham, but was unable to win his side a penalty due to the on-field decision being overturned.
As Saka edged into the box, he was met by the leg of Kevin, which, to referee Anthony Taylor, was enough to award a penalty in real-time.
VAR intervened, and the spot-kick was cancelled to Arsenal’s disappointment, prompting Mark Clattenburg to share his opinion.
Speaking exclusively to Arsenal Insider during the match, Clattenburg thought VAR were right to intervene; however, he has since changed his mind.
- READ MORE: Arsenal can do something this week that they’ve literally never done in their entire history
Mark Clattenburg says VAR were wrong to intervene in Arsenal penalty overturn against Fulham
As expected, the penalty incident was a talking point when the action from matchday eight of the Premier League season was discussed on the Beyond The Back Four podcast.
At first glance, Clattenburg described VAR’s intervention as ‘a very good use of VAR’, but when reflecting on the situation on Beyond The Back Four, he admitted his mind had been changed.
Clattenburg maintained that he didn’t think it was a penalty, but had a problem with VAR’s decision to get involved.
“What I’m confused at, once Anthony Taylor awarded the penalty, I didn’t think this would be overturned,” the former ref began.
“PGMOL came out at the start of the season, made a statement and said we will not re-referee the match, we will only interfere when there’s a clear and obvious error.
“I don’t believe Anthony Taylor is clear and obviously wrong. I believe it’s wrong, in my opinion, but I don’t believe it’s clear and obvious enough to overturn the decision.”
Arsenal have been stung by VAR many times before, and to some degree, Clattenburg believed the Gunners had reason to feel hard done by at Craven Cottage.
“I don’t believe that this should be a VAR intervention; this is not what VAR was for,” he elaborated.
“In my opinion, you’re now re-refereeing the match in slow motion, and that’s not what I want to see.”
How former PGMOL chief reacted to Arsenal’s overturned penalty
While Clattenburg insisted that Stuart Attwell’s intervention during the game was something he didn’t want to see, others disagreed.
On X, former PGMOL chief Keith Hackett reacted to the incident, sharing his verdict that ‘Attwell correctly intervened’.
The penalty call certainly has footballing figures talking, and while Hackett’s opinion varied from Clattenburg’s, Mikel Arteta agreed with the latter.
“I was getting a bit animated because obviously if it’s clear and obvious or not, that’s where VAR has to intervene,” Arteta said in his post-match press conference.
Once again, the issue of consistency is being spoken about with regard to VAR, with a lot needing to be ironed out before all parties are satisfied with it’s usage.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
