The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel have confirmed Brighton & Hove Albion were wrongly disallowed a penalty in their 1–0 defeat to Arsenal earlier this month.
Bukayo Saka fired Arsenal ahead after just nine minutes with what proved to be the winning goal, but Brighton were furious to be denied the chance to equalize from the penalty spot in the dying embers of the first half when Mats Wieffer was dumped to the ground by Gabriel Martinelli.
Chris Kavanagh, the on-field referee, did not call for a foul and VAR Michael Salisbury cleared the incident as well, with the Match Centre then taking to social media to confirm “no clear and obvious error” was detected.
The KMI panel, made up of three former players or coaches and one representative from both the Premier League and Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), has now ruled that Kavanagh should have awarded a penalty initially and Salisbury was wrong not to intervene.
Victory over Brighton took Arsenal seven points clear at the top of the standings after Manchester City were held by Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal Benefit From Yet Another VAR Mistake
It is impossible to predict how the award of a penalty for Brighton might have impacted both that specific game and the wider title race. If converted, it would have changed the trajectory of the game but Arsenal could still have gone on to win.
Dealing in hypotheticals will get rival fans nowhere, but what cannot be overlooked is the fact this is the third time this season Arsenal have profited from a missed penalty call.
Earlier this month, the KMI panel decided Declan Rice should have conceded a penalty for handball in a 2–1 victory over Chelsea as he wrapped his hands around Jorrel Hato and deflected the ball away with his arm. The Blues did score moments later in an unrelated play.
Even before that, December brought a ruling that William Saliba was wrongly saved from conceding a penalty against Everton striker Thierno Barry in a game that ended 1–0 in Arsenal’s favor. Salisbury was the VAR for that game, too.
“It feels as though certain clubs get those decisions and other clubs don’t,” Everton boss David Moyes fumed after the incident.
Those ruling are three of 18 VAR errors from the current campaign, tying the total from last season with eight rounds of fixtures left to play.
READ THE LATEST PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FC
- Arsenal Must Heed Thierry Henry Warning After Max Dowman’s Record-Breaking Goal
- ‘We’ll See’—Rodri Delivers Head-Turning Response to Real Madrid Links
- The 15 Most Valuable Squads in World Soccer—Ranked
- Tottenham ‘Reach New Igor Tudor Sack Verdict’ After Liverpool Draw
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Premier League Admit to VAR Error That Could Have Huge Impact on Title Race.
