chief Howard Webb has expressed his opinion on the Newcastle United vs. Arsenal match,

PGMOL chief Howard Webb has expressed his opinion on the Newcastle United vs. Arsenal match, stating that Bruno Guimaraes should have been sent off during Newcastle’s 1-0 win over Arsenal. In the game, Guimaraes escaped punishment after his forearm made contact with the back of Jorginho’s head. Webb, speaking on Sky Sports’ Match Officials Mic’d Up, acknowledged that, upon analysis, both Guimaraes and Arsenal’s Kai Havertz should have received red cards for their respective incidents. Havertz had received only a yellow card for a high challenge on Sean Longstaff.

Guimaraes, who was shown a yellow card in the match, was subsequently suspended for the trip to Bournemouth due to accumulating his fifth Premier League booking of the season. A red card for violent conduct would have led to the Brazilian missing matches against Chelsea and Manchester United after the international break.

Webb also discussed the VAR checks surrounding Newcastle’s winning goal, scored by Anthony Gordon. The goal faced three different VAR checks after being initially awarded by referee Stuart Attwell. Mikel Arteta, Arsenal’s head coach, criticized the decision, calling it a disgrace. However, Webb explained that after a thorough examination, no conclusive evidence was found to overturn the on-field decision. The three aspects checked were whether the ball had gone out of play before Joe Willock crossed it, if Joelinton fouled Gabriel or handled the ball, and whether Gordon was offside when the ball reached him. Webb stated that, in each case, there was no clear and obvious error, and the on-field decision stood.

Webb highlighted the challenges in determining certain aspects due to subjectivity and lack of conclusive evidence, ultimately concluding that the VAR process in this situation was correct.