Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal thought they had a chance to open the scoring in their Premier League clash against Newcastle United after goalkeeper Nick Pope collided with Viktor Gyokeres within the opening 15 minutes.
Referee Jarred Gillett didn’t hesitate when pointing to the spot, but he then reversed his decision after consulting the pitch side monitor.
In what was a tasty encounter from the off, Gyokeres made the most of a one-on-one situation with Pope and even sidestepped around the Newcastle goalkeeper, who caught the Swedish striker’s leg as he tumbled to the turf. Much to the dismay of the home contingent, the man in the middle pointed to the penalty spot.
As a means of maintaining the integrity of English officiating, Gillett was sent to the pitchside monitor to ensure that his decision-making was correct. As expected, a collective sigh of relief was let out by the Newcastle fans when he announced, to the crowd, his decision to overturn the penalty. The Premier League Match Centre has now reiterated his on-pitch reasoning.
Premier League Provide Explanation for Overturning Penalty in Arsenal v Newcastle
It was always going to be a tough afternoon’s work for the north Londoners given how tenacious the St James’ Park atmosphere has been over the years, and grabbing all three points was going to need a bit of luck on their side. Pouncing on the end of Jacob Murphy’s poor pass, Gyokeres beared down on goal, looking to increase his tally for the season.
That looked to happen in the opening 15 minutes before those at Stockley Park advised Gillett to double-check his decision. That’s because Pope looked to have made a connection with the ball before taking out Arsenal’s summer recruit, who was one of the first to complain. You can watch the collision below.
With a sea of red and white-and-black shirts swarming him on the touchline (as you can watch above), Gillett concurred with his VAR colleagues and cancelled out the Gunners’ penalty after reviewing the footage and, as a means of clearing things up, the Premier League Match Centre have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to explain why:
“NEWARS – 14′ VAR OVERTURN. After VAR review, the referee overturned the original decision of penalty to Arsenal. Referee announcement: “After review, the Newcastle goalkeeper plays the ball and there is no foul. The final decision is drop ball.”
According to journalist Simon Collings, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was overly frustrated with Gillett’s decision to overturn his side’s chance to open the scoring from the spot. “Arteta with his head in his hands after that decision,” he took to X to say before adding: “He can’t believe it.”
To make matters worse, it didn’t take long for Eddie Howe’s men to take the lead following the controversy up the other end. Nick Woltemade rose the highest in the Arsenal box to nod home the opening goal of the St James’ Park-based encounter.
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