Kolo Muani goal, Gabriel last-man foul, VAR verdict – Arsenal vs Tottenham referee review

football.london reviews the big decisions by the officials after Arsenal's 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby, including Randal Kolo Muani’s disallowed goal, Gabriel Magalhaes’ tussle that prevented a one-on-one for Spurs and the officials’ communications nightmare

Arsenal secured a vital victory in their hunt for the Premier League title, scoring four in their North London Derby delight at Tottenham Hotspur. Two braces from Viktor Gyokeres and Eberechi Eze won the points.

However, there was naturally some controversy in the derby and it surrounded Peter Bankes' officiating. Plenty of Spurs fans feel aggrieved at two major decisions which could have changed the entire complexion of the game.

In retrospect, football.london's Tom Canton (Arsenal correspondent) and Alasdair Gold (Tottenham Hotspur correspondent) take a look at each incident to decipher what happened and whether any mistakes were made.

Gabriel challenges Kolo Muani to prevent one-on-one

With the game at 1-1 and the half-time whistle approaching, a ball is played through for Randal Kolo Muani who has a race with Brazilian Gabriel Magalhaes for the ball.

The centre-back gets in front of the forward and collides with the Frenchman. Both go down and the ball rolls through to a grateful David Raya and no decision is taken.

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Tom Canton’s verdict: For me, Gabriel gets into the right position and is quite clever in how he goes about it. Without making much contact, despite stills being posted of a shirt grab which lasts a split-second, he does enough to make it so Kolo Muani almost runs into the back of him.

Never will you see an official really give in favour of the attacker in these situations. As Gabriel has the advantage of being in front, it’s just a non-issue for me and wouldn’t feel too aggrieved if the shoe was on the other foot.

Alasdair Gold verdict: My first instinct on this one in real time was that there looked to be more to it than the referee initially thought but, watching it back immediately on our replay screens, there's just not enough contact for me, other than the briefest of shirt holds, to really push through any Spurs gripes with it.

It's mainly clever defending and had it happened at the other end, Tottenham fans would likely have been livid if anything was given to an Arsenal attacker.

Kolo Muani’s disallowed goal

This is, without doubt, the most controversial moment in the game. With Arsenal leading 2-1, the cross from Spurs comes from the right. Kolo Muani clearly puts two arms on the back of Gabriel in a pushing motion. The Brazilian goes down and, unchallenged, the Frenchman scores.

The referee decides to declare it a foul on the forward, and the VAR agrees not to suggest a re-evaluation of the decision.

Tom Canton’s verdict: If this were the other way round, I would feel aggrieved. But it’s not, so I don’t. Jokes aside, I think Gabriel takes a big gamble here by going down, but it pays off.

I would like him to be stronger, but he’s the man in the situation and believes the contact is enough to justify him going down. He certainly makes the contact look more than it is, but having to sell it to the referee that there is enough to have impeded him, I guess he does.

What is in his favour is that he doesn’t really move toward his opponent at all, whereas Kolo Muani goes into him. Gabriel stands his ground in the position best to challenge for the ball and is stopped from jumping and the player who scores is the player making the action. But in future, I would rather Gabriel didn’t take that gamble, even if I think it’s the right decision in the end.

Alasdair Gold’s verdict: For me, this one brings the reverse of my above take. I initially thought it was a blatant push in real time but on further review it's absolutely nothing of the sort. There's barely a brushing of Kolo Muani's palms on Gabriel's back and the Brazilian flies forward as if shoved by a giant. It's a huge overreaction and ultimately it's fooled the officials.

Aside from the fact that strike would have made it 2-2 and caused some Arsenal nerves, Spurs fans will be particularly aggrieved because Liverpool were awarded a goal against them a few weeks ago when Hugo Ekitike clearly shoved Cristian Romero forward in the air as headed home. The Tottenham captain even got booked for his protests and then later received a second yellow card and a four-game ban to compound matters.

It's a lack of consistency and that VAR did not intervene in either situation only goes to show that you can put as many cooks in the kitchen as you like but they can still make a dog's dinner of it.

Officials communication problems

A few minutes into the first half, the game had to be stopped as the officials lost communication with one another. There was a complete technical breakdown and it was widely criticised with eight added minutes played at the end of the first half.

Then, with the players waiting to start the second half, the issue occurred again. No added time was needed because the issue happened before the game was restarted.

Tom Canton’s verdict: In a game of this magnitude, this cannot happen. What seemed baffling to me too was the fact that somehow Peter Bankes added on just one minute less to the second half (seven) after adding eight on in the first after the lengthy stoppage, how?

This cannot happen again, and whoever is at fault should rightfully be sweating on any future repeats. Mikel Arteta joked post-match about fines and having one over the likes of Sky and the broadcasters now, but ultimately we still do not know who is at fault.

Alasdair Gold’s verdict: It was an utter mess and one of the dangers of relying so heavily on technology to referee games nowadays. What do you do when it all goes wrong? The first half stoppage probably helped Spurs because it came after a period when Arsenal were starting to get through their backline more often than not.

However, the extended half-time stoppage only served to break up the fan noise ahead of the second period and it's probably not a coincidence that the visitors scored so quickly after the restart.

Things like this are going to happen but to not have quickly available replacements for all communications devices seems like a lesson to be learned from.

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