The penalty awarded to Sunderland against Arsenal earlier this month should not have been given, the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel has ruled.
However, the KMI panel also felt the error did not reach the threshold for a video assistant referee intervention, as reported by BBC Sport.
Referee John Brooks pointed to the spot in the 54th minute for a holding offence by Ezri Konsa on Dan Ballard, but Gunners goalkeeper David Raya then saved Enzo le Fee’s spot-kick.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was furious after the match, even though his side went on to win the game 2-0, saying the match “was unprotected”.
“It’s a judo roll from the opponent. Ezri [Konsa] does nothing. Just watch it,” Arteta told BBC Match of the Day.
“We have a lot of cameras and VAR, we have to take responsibility to protect the game.
“Today the game was unprotected and it could have cost us the game and the momentum which is a really, really serious thing.”
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The five members of the KMI panel unanimously voted that the spot-kick should not have been given, with a split 3:2 vote in support of no VAR review.
“Although it was a very untidy challenge in which Konsa initially had arms around Ballard, Ballard engages in a holding action which pulls Konsa onto him so they both fall to the floor,” the KMI panel noted.
“The non-VAR intervention was supported, with the majority considering that the on-field decision was not a clear and obvious error, given the combined actions from both players.”
It is possible for the KMI panel to reach what would appear to be contradictory judgements.
The vote on the on-field call assesses what the best outcome should be.
But the VAR vote considers whether the on-field call can be justified, taking into account what the referee has seen and the available replays.
