Arsenal suffered their first league defeat of the season at the hands of Newcastle in controversial circumstances, with Mikel Arteta furious at some of the refereeing decisions in the game.
The Gunners competed in a fierce battle at St James’ Park which often became physical, and Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes should have arguably been given a red card for a violent foul on Jorginho.
In what was a close game, Arsenal found themselves trailing 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Anthony Gordon, but the goal was checked for three separate offences: the ball going out of play, a foul on Gabriel Magalhaes and an offside.
Dermot Gallagher explains why Gordon’s goal against Arsenal stood
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has now explained why Gordon’s goal was allowed to stand, offering an explanation for each of the three possible offences.
“The whole of the ball has to be over the whole of the line. You can look at it from that angle and it is impossible to tell,” Gallagher stated of the ball going out of play.
“We see it with corners where it looks over the circumference but the ball overhangs so they are allowed to play. I think that might be the problem with this, that they can’t be sure that some of that ball isn’t overhanging the line.
“There is no evidence to say the ball is out of play. It isn’t whether the ball is in play but whether the ball is out of play.”
On the possible foul on Gabriel, Gallagher claimed that as referee Stuart Attwell did not initially spot the foul, VAR did not deem it a big enough error to overturn.
“Stuart Attwell didn’t think it’s a foul. That’s the difference. The VAR didn’t think there was enough contact to overrule the referee so therefore the on field decision stood.”
On Gordon possibly being offside, Gallagher claimed that it was not possible to draw lines to check, given the possible camera angles available.
“The offside, which they looked at for a long, long time, but couldn’t find the lines to decide where the ball was when it struck Joelinton to come down,” he added.
“The ball is obscured, so they have no start point. And that’s the problem. You need to start point to get to a conclusion.”
Should Gordon’s goal have stood?
Whilst Arsenal can count themselves unlucky with some of the decisions on the day, the goal standing or being disallowed may be a 50-50 decision.
Although some angles show that the ball appears to be out, a bird-eye view shows that the entire ball had not crossed the line.
The foul is perhaps the most contentious decision. Joelinton has both of his hands outstretched as he beat Gabriel in the air, and it could easily have been a foul on the centre-back.
Gary Neville claimed on Sky Sports that Gabriel had simply been outmuscled, but if Attwell had initially given the foul, VAR may have not overruled this decision.
Whilst there may be outrage at the technological frustration over the possible offside, if the offence was the other way round, Arsenal fans would like the benefit of the doubt to go to the attacker.
Although Mikel Arteta was right to be angry at the refereeing display overall, there are arguments both in favour and against the goal standing, and Arsenal may simply be the victims of bad luck here.
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