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The Premier League has issued an explanation after Everton were left furious with the decision not to award a penalty for William Saliba’s challenge on Thierno Barry.
The Arsenal centre-back appeared to kick Barry’s foot inside the area, but the home side were not awarded a spot-kick.
The incident came after 58 minutes of Arsenal’s 1-0 win in the Premier League on Saturday night as Saliba and Barry went for a bouncing ball on the edge of the box.
The Everton striker went down clutching his foot and appealing for a penalty, with Jack Grealish also protesting to referee Samuel Barrott, but the home side did not get the decision.
The Premier League Match Centre wrote: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Everton was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed the contact from Saliba on Barry wasn’t sufficient for a penalty.”
The Gunners were lucky to get away with it, according to ex-Arsenal player Alan Smith. “He’s a little fortunate,” Smith said on co-commentary for Sky Sports. “He did kick Barry’s foot. It happens so often. One player gets there first and the other kicks their foot. It’s whether it’s an obvious enough error from the ref to turn it over.”
Everton were unhappy with the decision, which was confirmed by VAR Michael Salisbury, with manager David Moyes remonstrating with the fourth official on the touchline.
Mikel Arteta was coy when asked about the decision in his post-match press conference: “They checked it. They decided it wasn’t one. I don’t want to comment on that too much.”
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To make matters worse, Arsenal led 1-0 at that point following a VAR decision which went in their favour. Viktor Gyokeres scored in the 27th minute from the penalty spot after Jake O’Brien was penalised for handball inside the area.
The Everton defender handled the ball with both hands while trying to defend a corner. The VAR raised the incident with on-field referee Barrott, who consulted the pitch side monitor and pointed to the spot.
The Premier League Match Centre wrote: “After VAR review, the referee overturned the original decision of no penalty to Arsenal. Referee announcement: ‘After review, Everton No.15 commits a handball offence. My final decision will be penalty kick.'”
That decision and Gyokeres’ successful finish past Jordan Pickford proved to be the difference between the two sides as Arsenal picked up three points to move back past Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.
London Mirror
