- Joelinton is said to have pushed Gabriel Magalhaes as Arsenal’s centre-half
- Anthony Gordon scored the winner for Newcastle as they beat the Gunners 1-0
- CHRIS SUTTON: Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is a CLOWN – It all starts
Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright has criticized VAR after Joelinton allegedly fouled Gabriel Magalhaes in the build-up to Anthony Gordon’s winner against the Gunners.
Gordon was set up by team-mate Joelinton, but many fans have complained that the Brazilian pushed his compatriot in the back to win the header, with VAR ruling there was no foul.
As well as the push, there was much controversy over whether Joe Willock kept the ball in the field during the build-up, and whether Newcastle were also offside.
Mikel Arteta was also furious about the VAR after the match and labeled the decision-making as ’embarrassing’ and a ‘disgrace’.
Wright joined the Gunners boss’s consternation and took to social media platform X to express his frustrations.
Ian Wright took to social media to speak out about Newcastle’s controversial winner against Arsenal
Joelinton rose highest at the back post to head to Anthony Gordon for the winning goal
The VAR deliberated extensively on the many decisions and took up to four minutes to reach a decision
The Arsenal icon posted an explicit message highlighting: ‘Bro. I’m done with people saying this isn’t a violation, 50 f*****g 50.’
The post was accompanied by a photo showing Joelinton’s outstretched arms on the back of Gabriel’s head and neck.
Gary Neville agreed with VAR’s decision not to award a foul, claiming the defender had leaned forward to try to clear the ball rather than being pushed by Joelinton.
Wright clashed with former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher over the VAR decision, as Gallagher explained there was not enough convincing evidence to disallow the goal.
Gallagher insisted: “The whole ball has to be over the line and you can look at it from that angle and you can’t say, as Wrighty says, it’s impossible to say.
‘I think that’s the problem because we can’t be sure that part of the ball isn’t hanging over the line. So on that basis there is no evidence that the ball is out of play. That’s how it is. It is only penalized when the ball is out of play.
Wright, meanwhile, was furious at Gallagher’s reaction, exclaiming: ‘Sorry to interrupt, Dermot. But from the angles we see, the ball seems to be out of play. That’s certainly what we should judge it on. It’s not that we can’t say that with certainty.
“What we can see with the naked eye, since we have no other way to prove that the circumference of the ball crosses the line, surely we should consider that to be the ball out of play?”
