Everton should have been awarded a penalty against Man City (Image: Sky Sports)
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal were told Everton should have been awarded a penalty in their recent 3-3 draw with Manchester City after Bernardo Silva dragged Toffees star Marlin Rolle to the ground. The incident went unnoticed by referee Michael Oliver, who ruled that VAR official Paul Howard could not intervene as the incident occurred before the corner kick.
However, the Premier League’s Major Match Incidents Committee believes the Toffees should have been awarded the spot-kick as David Moyes’ side were leading 3-2. City fought back for a share of the spoils courtesy of Jeremy Doku’s equalizing goal. While City’s setbacks have seen the Gunners reclaim top spot, the draw leaves Josep Guardiola’s side with just two points between them and Arsenal instead of three, potentially deciding who ultimately wins the league.
Arteta’s side can regain a five-point advantage over City with a win against already relegated Burnley on Monday night, who will face Chelsea in the FA Cup. They will then face Bournemouth in their penultimate game of the season on Tuesday night, with Arsenal needing a win to beat the Clarets. Any other result would give the North Londoners the title.
Moyes was furious at the decision not to award a penalty, saying at the time: “If no penalty is awarded, it’s completely free-for-all from now on.”
All five members of the committee sided with the Toffees manager, ruling that there was “an apparent sustained holding offense that continued even after the corner was turned and the ball entered play”. The committee is made up of five members: one from the Premier League, one from PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) and three former players or coaches.
A series of controversial VAR decisions have recently rocked the title race, with West Ham United scoring a late equalizer against Arsenal only to have it canceled for a foul on goalkeeper David Raya, despite having a large number of players in the box.
The admission of the error in Everton’s game against City brings the total number of VAR errors this season to 23, and marks the third time the Toffees have had a penalty denied after review. Once when we lost 1-0 to Arsenal and once when we lost 2-1 to West Ham United.
During the defeat to the Hammers, Moyes was furious after the ball hit West Ham midfielder Matheus Fernandes in the hand as he struggled with Tierno Barry in the box. “I’m a little surprised,” he said. “I went to see them (the officials) and the VAR said he was grappling. Well, the kid who was marking him was grappling. He punched the ball. I was surprised they didn’t give it away.”
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Bernardo Silva was lucky not to give away a penalty against Everton (Image: Getty)
PGMOL boss Howard Webb told Match Officials’ Mic’d Up: “It’s an interesting situation, and I agree with you. We’d like to say from the beginning that we think there should have been a penalty here against Fernandes. But we don’t think he really intended to handle the ball intentionally.”
“However, most penalties awarded without the intention of handling the ball are due to players being unnaturally large. They take a risk by putting their arms forward to block a shot or a cross, and they know that if the ball hits their arm or hand in that position, they will pay the price.”
“He doesn’t get unnaturally big here. He puts his arms out in front of him. I think he’s probably trying to prevent the attacker from turning around. But in doing that, he’s kind of knocking the ball away.”
“He can’t even see the ball, but Fernandes more or less knows where the ball is and it’s probably a deliberate action using his arm to do something, not to handle the ball. So I think we gave Fernandes too much benefit of the doubt here.”
“If you look at it very closely, I think the game is just expecting a penalty in this situation. We have to be consistent with our understanding of what the game expects, what the game expects. And I think a penalty was the right outcome in this situation. Instead of us trying to explain why we decided not to intervene, we should have let Fernandes explain what he was trying to do!”
