Arsenal penalty controversy against Everton explained after VAR's second look

05 February 2023 , 08:53

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Arsenal penalty controversy against Everton explained after VAR's second look

Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes felt his side should have been awarded a penalty after he was tripped by Everton striker Neal Maupay on Saturday, but it has since been explained why he wasn't.

The Gunners endured an afternoon to forget in Merseyside as Mikel Arteta's men fell to just their second league defeat of the season. A James Tarkowski header from a Dwight McNeil corner on the hour mark was enough to separate the two sides and place a dent in Arsenal's title hopes.

In truth, the Toffees were well worth their win, as Sean Dyche managed to get his players to nullify Arsenal's attacking threat with an impressive pressing system. The former Burnley boss deserves plenty of praise for managing to instil such a system in what was only his first game in the Goodison Park hot-seat.

However, things could have been different had Arsenal been given a penalty shortly after Everton opened the scoring. As Gabriel made his way into the box, it appeared as if he had been tripped by Maupay, which in turn sent the Brazilian centre-back clattering into Idrissa Gueye.

Referee David Coote responded by awarding Everton a free-kick, which prompted further appeal from the Arsenal stars.

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But while all of this was going on, VAR were actually mulling over the incident during a potential penalty check, but stood by Coote's on-field decision.

Gabriel and Neal Maupay clashed again after the full-time whistle

HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Arsenal have been given a penalty for Gabriel's clash with Maupay? Comment below

Though some Gunners fans may feel particularly hard done by, former Premier League referee Peter Walton explained why Arsenal weren't given a penalty during BT Sport's coverage of the clash.

He claimed: "Well actually the initiation of contact was from the Arsenal player so I don’t think this will be given as a penalty kick, certainly there was enough contact there, but not a penalty kick."

Walton's comments read as if he is of the belief that it was Gabriel who initiated the contact with Maupay, though the defender himself and all associated with Arsenal are unlikely to view it that way.

The Gunners can consider themselves unfortunate over the build-up to Everton's goal, as the corner the Toffees scored directly from was actually wrongly awarded.

Television replays showed how the final touch actually came off of Alex Iwobi, though the linesman incorrectly deemed it to have come off Ben White.

After the defeat, Arteta refused to critcise his players, instead telling BT Sport : "Today I love them much better than the week before or a month ago, it is easy to be next to someone when they are winning well.

"I am still so proud of all of these players, they deserve it. This is not going to be a rose pathway. This is going to be tricky and we will have to dig in and play much better than we did today."

Josh O'Brien