Gyokeres penalty, Gabriel handball, Calafiori ‘towel gate’ – Newcastle vs Arsenal referee review

Arsenal had to overcome some baffling refereeing decisions at St James’ Park once again to secure a late victory courtesy of Gabriel Magalhaes. It has almost become an expectation that the Gunners will witness some odd moments while on Tyneside.

Previously, Bruno Guimaraes' forearm smashes have gone unpunished, with inconclusive camera angles supposedly unable to determine whether a ball has left the field of play, while Joelinton has been able to foul Gabriel in the box leading to a Toon goal. This time, however, despite again some questionable calls, they got the job done.

With that in mind, football.london runs through some of the major decisions from the game. Jarred Gillett is involved in what has been his fourth Arsenal match either as a referee or VAR lead in six matches.

Riccardo Calafiori towel-gate

It was certainly one of the more comical moments of the afternoon. Riccardo Calafiori, after the Gunners had won a throw-in, ready to launch a long throw into the box, spotted a towel halfway down the goalline so ran over and picked it up. However Jarred Gillett blew his whistle to berate the Italian before taking it off him and throwing it down by the corner flag.

Many have identified the towel was supposedly Nick Pope’s. Calafiori would use his shirt instead before throwing a ball which might have even slightly slipped out his hands and cost him a few yards of flight.

FL review – On Saturday, Liverpool were beaten after Jefferson Lerma’s long throw made its way to Eddie Nketiah, who scored. Lerma was spotted using a towel to dry the ball.

According to the rules, clubs have to pre-agree to have towels around the ground, and former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher said this was not the case at St James’ Park. The issue is, if towels were not allowed, why did Nick Pope have his, and why was it halfway down the touchline?

The rule seems odd, and instead, there really should be a blanket (no pun intended) rule on whether towels should or should not be placed around the side of all grounds.

FL verdict - It was a correct decision if the towel ban was pre–agreed. But questions remain about why a towel was there, whether Pope should have been allowed it, and why it was already halfway down the goal line.

Viktor Gyokeres penalty call

A loose pass from Newcastle allowed Viktor Gyokeres to pounce in, take a touch and then appear to be brought down by Nick Pope. Jarred Gillet, and this is important, gave a penalty on the field of play.

Then VAR intervened and recommended that the decision be reviewed with the claim made after that Pope played the ball. Replays were rather inconclusive about how much, if any, of a touch the goalkeeper did get on the ball but it came as a result of Gyokeres getting a touch first.

FL review – The key example to highlight the inconsistency of how these decisions are officiated comes in another Arsenal game at Brighton last season. Joao Pedro headed the ball, onto the top of Saliba’s head who was going for the ball himself, and then the Frenchman collided with the head of Pedro who went down.

Anthony Taylor gave a penalty on the field and the VAR decision afterwards was that the onfield decision should stand. Saliba got a much more meaningful touch on the ball than Pope did in the example at Newcastle, deflecting the ball’s flight whereas if Pope did get a touch, it had little or zero bearing on it's direction of travel.

FL verdict: It was a horrible mistake. Where Saliba had previously got a genuine touch on the ball to play it, Pope failed to, and yet the VAR gave the opposite call. Penalty should have stood.

Gabriel handball call

This is actually a very simple one. Soon after Arsenal had equalised, Anthony Elanga found his way into the box and as he strikes the ball, Gabriel slides in to block. The ball flies up and catches the arm of Gabriel, clearly. Gillett's decision was not to award a penalty.

FL review – The key point here, as shown in the image below, is that Gabriel makes contact with the ball with a legal part of his body first before it deflects up onto his arm. According to the letter of the law, this is therefore not a penalty.

There is an argument anyway; this is a natural position for someone sliding in to make a challenge, and there is an argument of proximity, too. But neither is relevant because of the initial first touch.

FL verdict – Correct decision. No penalty.

Other key decisions

Some other points worthy of note include the decision not to rule out Nick Woltemade’s goal for a supposed push on Gabriel. The contact is minimal and the Brazilian needs to be stronger there.

Also then not to give Gabriel a red card after raising his hands to Woltemade in the immediate aftermath of kick-off. The Brazilian is perhaps saved first by the honesty of the German striker who does not go down and secondly by his height which means he doesn’t really connect.

He got lucky and should consider himself having got away with one through pure chance rather than an incorrect officiating call. Bruno Guimaraes appeared to have a ball strike his arm from Gabriel Martinelli’s shot late on in the second half.

To some, it looks intentional, but while not being given on the field, the natural body shape argument and the fact that it looks like he’s trying not to make contact save him from a VAR review. Trossard seemed to be pushed by Tino Livramento in the box but this too I am not sure is enough to constitute a foul like Joelinton’s on Gabriel was in a previous season for example.