Arsenal’s 3-2 victory away at Tottenham Hotspur was not without controversy, as there were plenty of contentious refereeing decisions on the day.

In what was a fiery clash between the two bitter rivals, Arsenal may have felt aggrieved that some challenges on Bukayo Saka were going unpunished, whilst Spurs were unlucky to see an early equaliser from Micky Van de Ven ruled out for a tight offside.

Arsenal’s second goal also came after Dejan Kulusevski went down in the box after a challenge from Leandro Trossard, and Saka struck after a deadly counter-attack in the immediate aftermath.

Spurs were given a route back into the game as Declan Rice gave a penalty away late on for a foul on Ben Davies, but the decision came after a VAR check, and PGMOL chief Howard Webb has now expressed his disappointment that the penalty was not awarded immediately.

Howard Webb claims Spurs penalty against Arsenal was an obvious decision

Speaking on Match Officials Mic’d Up, Webb claimed that whilst referee Michael Oliver had a good performance in the match overall, VAR having to step in over the penalty decision highlighted its positive impact.

“I know you’ll be disappointed he misread that in the moment and we all can misread things in the moment. I did that many times myself. But thankfully we’ve got VAR that can look at these situations very quickly. You’ll hear Jarred Gillett at the VAR check it, stop the game in a neutral zone so nothing else can happen,” he stated of the penalty incident.

“For example, we don’t want a goal scored at the other end and then having to take that away as well. Stop the game as soon as possible. Michael went to the screen, looked at it, quickly saw the error and gave a penalty. And as you say, without VAR this would have stayed as a non-awarded penalty. It would have been hugely controversial. So a really good use of the VAR facility here.”

Penalty decision in Tottenham vs Arsenal was correct

Rice’s tackle on Davies was justifiably a penalty, with no contact on the ball in what was a rare mistimed challenge from the England star.

Oliver did not initially spot the challenge, but VAR was able to overturn his decision, and Arsenal could have had few complaints about it.

Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have gone to war with the PGMOL this season, with Arteta escaping punishment after expressing his fury at decisions given in his side’s defeat to Newcastle, but this decision was a fair one, and given that Spurs were eventually awarded the penalty anyway, neither side have a cause for complaint on it.

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